First Love?
by Gemini Artemis
Summary: The demons' lives before they were banished to the Netherworld. Focus on Hsi Wu and Bai Tsa.
1. The Most Beautiful Cherry Blossom

I thought for a long time (so much that it even gave me headache) about how this fic should be rated. I decided that R is too much. My "inappropriate" scenes actually are in a certain way very innocents (and rare). But anyway I didn't want to take the risk, so I'm warning now and I hope nobody get offended. Without these scenes, the story would lose totally its sense. You understand me, right?  
  
And to those who don't know, English is not my first language, so I can commit some mistakes. If I do, please tell me. Thank you.  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 1: The Most Beautiful of the Cherry Blossoms  
  
"Hsi, look at this!", Sakura called running in the flowers field. Hsi calmly turned and approached of her. He was in his human form, thanks to his father, who prohibited him of appearing in his true form in front of humans who weren't from his castle.  
  
"Remember the cherry tree we planted some months ago? Look, it's already big.", she said pointing happily to a small tree that if Hsi didn't know better he would say it actually was a bonsai.  
  
"It's not big. It's still minuscule.", he said bitterly and Sakura knelt down to caress the tree.  
  
"We planted it when we met each other, it is the symbol of our friendship. You should show some respect and admiration for it.", Sakura scolded and Hsi snorted and rolled his eyes.  
  
"Oh, you don't know how to see the good things of the life.", she complained standing up and looked at Hsi.  
  
"I have to go back now. But we can play in the evening.", she suggested. Hsi sighed.  
  
"I can't. An Indian guy will arrive today and my father wants to make a kind of... party.", he explained and Sakura tilted her head.  
  
"Oh, and what is he going to do here?", she asked.  
  
"He will have to choose one of my sisters to be his fiancée."  
  
"Is he a criminal?" Hsi raised a brow.  
  
"No, why?"  
  
"He probably did something very wrong to deserve a punishment like that.", Sakura said and both she and Hsi laughed.  
  
"That's true.", he remarked.  
  
"I already know who he will choose."  
  
"Of course he will choose Bai Tsa, who would want to stay with Po Kong?"  
  
...  
  
"I just hope my father doesn't engage me with someone too.", he remarked sadly.  
  
"You just have to fall in love soon.", she said.  
  
"That's not so easy..." Sakura approached and now was very close to his face.  
  
"You will, when less wait. I assure you.", she said and kissed his cheek, making he blush slightly.  
  
"I have to go now. See you tomorrow.", she said and turned to go away. Hsi touched with his hand the place where he had been kissed and stared at the girl until he couldn't see her anymore.  
  
"I don't believe!", he heard a voice behind him. The sky demon turned to face his sister Bai Tsa.  
  
"What?", he asked nervously. Bai Tsa rolled her eyes.  
  
"You like that human! What will our father say?!"  
  
"No, she's just a friend!"  
  
"I saw her kissing you. In fact, I noticed that since some months ago you two have been very close. You're together all the time.", she implied.  
  
"I'll just ignore your comments. I can see that you're just jealous because you have to get married with somebody who you barely know.", he accused and Bai Tsa frowned.  
  
"That's why I came to look for you. Our father demanded that you get ready soon because that Dhai something-or-other is almost arriving.", she snapped grabbing her brother's wrist and dragging him to the castle.  
  
"You should take care, Hsi. It seems that our father liked the idea of engaging the whole family, and you can be the next tomorrow.", she warned smiling bitterly. Hsi swallowed.  
  
"This is very true..."  
  
*****  
  
A.N.: Ahh! *suffering* As always, the first chapter was too short... What a shame! Oh, and don't think that the demons are OOC in this fic. There's an explanation for everything. Besides, you have to keep in mind that this story happens before their banishment for the Netherworld, therefore they're slightly more tolerant with each other and if you read Ni Tang, Heing Meh and Lotus Moon (forced propaganda moment? No, I love these fics!^^) you would understand perfectly what I am talking about. Now review, please! 


	2. Dhai Jiang

In the first chapter, I said the demons lived in a castle. Well, I think this is not the right word. It is "palace".  
  
Chapter 2: Dhai Jiang  
  
Hsi was heading to the front gate when Bai Tsa pulled him.  
  
"Not there! He'll see us. You have to pretend that was getting ready until now.", she whispered while dragging him to the side where they could see the windows of their rooms.  
  
"Fly up there, wear something and go to the main living room.", she ordered pointing upward, to Hsi Wu's window. Then she left running away. Hsi Wu took his true form and flew to his room. There were clothes in his bed and Hsi didn't like it, but had to wear them anyway. Then he rushed down the stairs to the main living room, where everybody was already gathered.  
  
"You're late! Why did you take so long?", Tchang Zu asked angry and Hsi saw that Bai Tsa had been very fast to get dressed. He looked around himself and noticed that half of the family was on a bad mood.  
  
"Sorry. I had some problems.", he said looking at the thunder demon again. Suddenly, everybody's attention went to their father, Yan Kwang, who had just came in and the room became silent.  
  
"Now when Hsi Wu finally decided to appear, we can greet Dhai Jiang. He has just arrived.", he said and stood back to open way for a demon behind him.  
  
He was a green lizard-demon, and had several black spots and stripes along his body. Surprisingly he was wearing clothes of an Indian monk.  
  
"It's worse than what I thought...", Bait Tsa muttered and Xiao Fung had to laugh.  
  
-/-/-  
  
In the dinner room, everyone was seated and Xiao Fung was still laughing, what was making the two sisters even more nervous. Po Kong was calmer than Bai, since probably Dhai Jiang was going to choose the water demon.  
  
"What's so funny?", Dai Gui asked in a low voice.  
  
"It's so ridiculous!", the wind demon managed to say pointing to Dhai Jiang.  
  
"Xiao, this is no fun. Don't you see that you can be the next?", Hsi asked, but Xiao Fung continued laughing uncontrollably. Dai Gui and Hsi Wu sighed. All attentions backed to their father when he began to speak again.  
  
"Let's do a fast introduction. Firstly, this is Dhai Jiang, the swamp demon."  
  
"Swamp? What a weird element...", Bai murmured and Xiao laughed even more.  
  
"And this at my right is his father Lehn Wuong, the fog demon. We are friends since we were children and we agreed in doing this engagement.", he continued gesturing at Lehn.  
  
"Now I'm going to introduce my children and their fiancées. Beside Dhai Jiang is Tchang Zu and his fiancée Shii Nah, then Tso Lan and his fiancée Liu Yue and Shendu and his fiancée Mei Liang.", he said. Dhai noticed that they were slightly uneasy.  
  
"On this side...", their father gestured to the right side of the table. "Hsi Wu, Xiao Fung and Dai Gui."  
  
"These are the bachelors, right, Yan?", Lehn Wuong remarked sarcastically and Yan smiled.  
  
"And now, let's go to what is important.", he said looking at Bai Tsa and Po Kong, who were seated side by side in the other side of the table.  
  
"The one at right is Bai Tsa, the water demon. And beside her is Po Kong, the mountain demon. My friend and I agreed that you could choose which one you'd like to be your fiancée.", Yan said to Dhai. The demon didn't even have to think.  
  
"I choose Bai Tsa. She's the most beautiful demon I have ever seen in my whole life and I'm sure that we'll be very happy together.", he said smiling and his eyes sparkling and now Xiao began to laugh uncontrollably aloud. Po sighed in relieve and Bai leaned the head in her arms on the table and began to cry.  
  
"Isn't it beautiful? She's so emotional that began to cry.", Lehn said to Yan.  
  
"I didn't know that Bai was so sensitive. Imagine the marriage day."  
  
-/-/-  
  
Po and Xiao were in the kitchen looking for something to eat. The mountain demon opened the pantry and yelped in surprise when seeing a person inside.  
  
"Bai? What the...? What are you doing?", she asked.  
  
"I took my human form to escape from him, but he recognize me after a while and I couldn't get away of the palace, so I'm hiding here. It's the safest place.", Bai Tsa answered.  
  
"And what does he want?"  
  
"He said that wanted to have a 'particular talk' with me.", she said and Dhai suddenly entered in the kitchen.  
  
"My dear Bai, finally found you!", he declared running to the pantry and Po stood back quickly to avoid being run over.  
  
"Come on, my love. We have to talk.", he said pulling her outside the pantry and carrying her away.  
  
"Let me go! Let me go!", she demanded. De left her daintily in the ground on her feet when they arrived at a small and not very illuminated room.  
  
"Now when we are engaged, we have to symbolize our love with a kiss. And you know what's the next thing we have to do, right?", he asked smiling and Bai Tsa froze. He approached of her, and touched her lips with his own. He licked all her mouth with his forked tongue and all Bai could do was turn into water and escape.  
  
She changed back and rushed to the lavatory of the palace, where she passed the next hours spitting, washing her mouth and cursing Dhai.  
  
-/-/-  
  
"Here. Drink some tea.", Liu offered to Bai.  
  
"Your reaction was similar to Shendu's when I tried to do the same as Dhai, but he wasn't so radical.", Meu remarked.  
  
"That's because you're not a filthy swamp lizard with a disgusting tongue!", Bai Tsa shouted and Mei laughed.  
  
"That's true. But do you know what I did to my old fiancé? I killed him." Everybody looked in surprise at her.  
  
"You killed him?!", Liu asked shocked.  
  
"Yes. He was fool and worthless anyway. Don't you think this way is better? So I could indirectly choose my fiancé." Bai thought for some minutes.  
  
"You know, it's not a bad idea. In fact, it is perfect!", the water demon said smiling maliciously. 


	3. The Tea of Death

Chapter 3: The Tea of Death  
  
Hsi woke up in his bed. The sun was already very high and he knew that his father probably wouldn't be happy at all with his delay. Oh well, now it wasn't a delay anymore, it was a total absence. But he couldn't help. Last night he was forced to hear a long boring talk about powers that Dhai had begun with Hsi's siblings. Dhai was in this palace barely for one day and was already beginning to bother the sky demon.  
  
Hsi looked through the window and saw Dai Gui and Shendu discussing about something. He couldn't get out through the window, so the only way was the back gate.  
  
He slowly opened the door and glanced at the corridor. Fortunately, there was nobody and he carefully went downstairs and rushed to the back gate. He took his human form while was about to leave the palace and smiled in victory. But then, he yelped in surprise when almost bumped into somebody. It was Bai Tsa again!  
  
"Where are you going?", she asked in suspicion.  
  
"Why are you always pursuing me?", Hsi said annoyed and walking away.  
  
"You're hiding something, aren't you?", she asked. Hsi flinched and turned to face his sister.  
  
"Why would I do that? I don't have anything to hide."  
  
"Then tell me, where are you going?", she asked smiling.  
  
"That's none of your business. I-", he suddenly stopped when noticed that Bai Tsa was holding a small cloth bag.  
  
"What's that?", he asked curious.  
  
"What?"  
  
"That bag in your hand?". He pointed. Bai Tsa flinched and hid her hands behind herself.  
  
"Oh, this. Nothing important...", she said nervously and Hsi Wu looked at her in suspicion.  
  
"Uhn... Weren't you going somewhere?", she asked looking away and Hsi found better not to force. If he didn't bother her, she wouldn't bother him. He left running and Bai sighed in relieve.  
  
"Bai Tsa.", a voice was heard right behind her and she felt a hand on her shoulder. The water demon yelped.  
  
"My! What happened? It's just me.", Mei Liang said and looked at the bag that Bai was holding.  
  
"What's that?", she asked pulling up the bag before finishing her question. Mei opened it and grabbed a kind of herb from within. She watched it carefully and then smelled it.  
  
"This is Si-Tong. Poison?", she asked smiling and Bai nodded. Mei grinned eagerly.  
  
"Bai, can I be there to see when he's dying?", she asked in a low and excited voice and Bai Tsa nodded again, smiling too.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"But you know what?", Mei asked looking around herself.  
  
"What?"  
  
"His death will be even slower and more painful if you mix this herb with a potion that I have been keeping since the time when I killed my old fiancé.", she whispered.  
  
"Can you find that potion until this night?"  
  
"Sure. Leave it to me.", Mei assured blinking one of her eyes.  
  
"I'm going to look for it right now. Ah, I don't watch such an amusement death for so long time!", she said leaving happily.  
  
-/-/-  
  
Sakura was seated in a stone, her cheeks on her hands, and looking vaguely at the landscape. She felt a hand touching her shoulder and turned to face her friend.  
  
"Hsi Wu!"  
  
"Sorry I'm late."  
  
"That's ok. But the problem is that you arrived very late. Now I have to go home.", she said sadly and stood up to leave. Hsi held her arm.  
  
"No, please!", he said and Sakura looked at him surprised. After a while he seemed to notice what he was doing and let her go.  
  
"I mean... Can't you stay just a little more?", he asked nervously.  
  
"No, I'd like to, but I can't. My mother demanded that I finish my ikebana today.", she said smiling. Hsi raised a brow.  
  
"Ikebana? What's that?". He asked and Sakura laughed a little.  
  
"Floral arrangements. I'm going to make one of cherry blossom, because it is my favorite flower.", she explained and just then Hsi noticed that there was a cherry blossoms bouquet beside her.  
  
"Don't you mean 'of Sakura'...?", he said picking the bouquet and giving it to Sakura.  
  
"I think they are pretty flowers too. They explain your name.", he said, making Sakura slightly blush.  
  
"Do you really like them? Tomorrow there will be a Japanese festival at night. I'll exhibit my ikebana there. Why don't you come to see it?", she invited and Hsi thought for a while.  
  
"Alright. I can find a way of leaving home so that nobody sees me.", he answered.  
  
"See you later.", he said quickly turning.  
  
"No, wait!", she said in a loud voice and Hsi turned back to face her. She walked to him and picked a flower from the bouquet.  
  
"Take it. I want you to stay with it.", Sakura said giving the flower to Hsi Wu, who just looked at it in despise. Sakura frowned at him.  
  
"Don't do that face! Like yourself said, that flower represents me.", she said and approached her face to Hsi's, kissing his cheek. Like if instinctively, the demon pushed her away. The girl just stared at him in surprise.  
  
"Please, don't do that again.", he said in a low voice and turned to leave.  
  
"I'll be waiting for you in front of the temple.", he said and Sakura smiled, turning to leave as well.  
  
-/-/-  
  
"Hmm... What a good smell! What's this, huh?", Xiao Fung asked looking at inside of a teapot and Bai rushed to grab it.  
  
"Nothing! Go away!", she ordered.  
  
"Don't be selfish, my sister. Let me drink just a little, please.", he pleaded.  
  
"NO!", she shouted angry.  
  
"Why not?", he asked childishly and Bai rolled her eyes.  
  
"Because I made the tea, so I have the right of say who can drink it or not."  
  
"Why don't you want me to drink it? What did I do wrong?", he insisted and Bai Tsa snorted impatiently.  
  
"BECAUSE YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A FOOL, LAZY, CHILDISH AND ANNOYING TOAD AND I HATE YOU! GO AWAY BEFORE I LOSE MY NERVES!", she shouted so high that could be clearly heard by the whole palace.  
  
"It looks to me that you already lost your nerves...", he remarked calmly and rushed out the kitchen when Bai Tsa became furious and grabbed a bowl that was on the table.  
  
"GET OUT!!!!!", she shouted throwing the bowl and hitting the door while Xiao closed it to hide and protect himself. Bai Tsa recovered her composure and turned to grab the teapot. Xiao opened the door again.  
  
"Idiot! You broke an expensive bowl. Our father will get mad at you!", he said giving Bai a mocking grimace.  
  
"Die!!!", she snapped throwing a knife and almost pulled up her hair when seeing that he managed to escape again and she ended up hitting the door. Mei began to laugh.  
  
"Came on, Bai. It's almost tea time.", she reminded and Bai calmed down.  
  
"Yes, we have to get rid of a worse pest now.", she said looking at the teapot and smiling maliciously. This night she would get rid forever of the worst thing that have ever happened to her. 


	4. Tea Time

Oops! I forgot to do a description of the demons' fiancées! Sorry, I'll try to do that in the next chapters.  
  
Now that I finally got 3 reviews, I can continue posting this fic's chapters... Thank you, reviewers!^^  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 4: Tea Time  
  
"The poisoned tea is in this cup.", Mei said pointing to one of the cups in a tray.  
  
"Right, let's go.", Bai said grabbing the tray and they hurried to the tea room.  
  
They saw Dhai Jiang talking with Tso Lan and Yan Kwang. Bai turned to face Mei.  
  
"We can't kill him in front of my father.", she said worried and Mei rolled her eyes.  
  
"Give me that!", she said grabbing the tray from her hands and approached happily of them.  
  
"Excuse me the interruption, but I brought tea for you.", she said smiling. Tso and Yan looked at each other in worry.  
  
"You... made it?", Tso asked and although Mei had wanted to hit his head with the tray, she forced herself to smile politely.  
  
"No, it was in the kitchen. But everybody was very busy, so I decided to bring it. It's to show how much I respect you.", she said and the two demons sighed in relieve. Tso stretched his arm to grab one of the cups and Mei flinched. He was going to get the poisoned tea.  
  
"Tso Lan!", Bai Tsa screamed entering in the room and everyone looked at her. Mei took the chance to change the positions of the cups in the tray.  
  
"Uhn... I'm having some problems with my lessons. Couldn't you help me?", she asked nervously before everybody's glances.  
  
"Alright. After the tea I'll help you.", he said turning again and this time grabbing a safe cup. However, before Mei or Bai could do anything, Yan got the poisoned tea.  
  
"Uh...", Mei murmured looking at Bai, who rushed to her father.  
  
"Father, don't do that!", she said holding his hand.  
  
"What?", he asked.  
  
"Don't drink this tea. It is...", she tried to come up with something. Yan raised a brow and Bai held the cup, beginning to try to remove it from her father. He pulled back and they now were in a kind of tug of war.  
  
"What are you trying to do, Bai Tsa?"  
  
"Don't drink this tea, it is of eucalyptus!", she said aloud.  
  
"Oh, why didn't you say that before? I hate eucalyptus tea.", he said calmly letting the cup go, what made Bai lose her balance and fall in the ground, spilling the tea.  
  
"Are you alright, my love?", Dhai Jiang asked standing up to help his fiancée. The water demon stood up quickly.  
  
"Yes. I'll bring more tea.", she said turning to head to the kitchen.  
  
"There's still a cup here. Is it of eucalyptus?", Yan asked pointing at the remaining cup in the tray and Mei smiled.  
  
"No, you can drink this one.", she offered and rushed to the kitchen too.  
  
Bai Tsa snorted angrily while getting more tea from the teapot.  
  
"This time is for sure! He'll die now!", she said and Mei nodded. They went back to the room.  
  
"Here, Dhai Jiang.", Bai said offering the cup.  
  
"Thank you very much. It's a great honor to be fiancé of somebody so noble like you.", he said sending a kiss for her. Bai snorted impatiently.  
  
"Just drink that already!", she ordered angry and watched how everybody looked at her in surprise.  
  
"I mean... Better drink it while it is still hot.", she corrected trying to smile. Dhai smiled back and sipped the tea.  
  
"Hmm... It's delicious.", he commented licking his lips.  
  
"I know the death is slow, but I thought that the pain was instantaneous...", Bai whispered to Mei.  
  
"Uhn... I think it takes some time to do effect. Or it's because he drank just a little. Maybe he had to drink until the last drop.", she answered unsure.  
  
"Well, since you liked it so much, why don't you drink all the tea?", Bai asked to Dhai, who immediately drank all the tea with just one sip.  
  
"Ahh... Very good!", he said pleased and the room was totally silent for a long time. Bai and Mei looked at each other.  
  
"Ah... ahaha, we have to go now.", Mei said turning to the corridor.  
  
"I'll be waiting for you in the studies room, Bai.", Tso reminded.  
  
"Uh? Oh, right! Yes! I'm going there now...", she said following Mei until the corridor. Tso raised a brow and stood up.  
  
"I'm leaving now.", he said leaving the room while Dhai and Yan continued talking. Tso headed to the kitchen, where he saw Xiao Fung almost drinking a cup.  
  
"Xiao, what's that?", he asked and the wind demon turned to face him.  
  
"Tea. Sister Bai made it. But she didn't want to let me drink it.", he said and Tso grabbed the cup. He watched carefully the tea and drank a drop.  
  
"This is poison. This tea is of an herb called Si-Tong. Extremely poisonous."  
  
"So that's why she didn't want me to drink. But who did she want to kill anyway?"  
  
"Isn't it obvious?", the moon demon said leaving the kitchen.  
  
-/-/-  
  
"Damn! Why didn't the poison kill him?", Bai asked walking around the studies room.  
  
"Because Dhai Jiang is a swamp demon. He's immune to any poison.", Tso answered entering in the room. Mei and Bai flinched.  
  
"Tso Lan... How did you know...?", the water demon asked in confusion.  
  
"I suspected since the beginning. You didn't even need to have lied about being with problems in your lessons.", he answered calmly.  
  
"Please, don't tell anything to our father.", Bai pleaded.  
  
"Don't worry, I don't care at all about that lizard. But be more careful next time. You almost killed our brother Xiao.", he said leaving the room and Bai sighed in relieve.  
  
"Well, since we cannot poison him, we have to try other tactics.", she declared and Mei smirked.  
  
"Whatever. I just want to see a slow and painful death..."  
  
"Bai Tsa, Mei Liang. We're all meeting in the main living room.", Liu said opening the door and leaving again. Mei and Bai stood up and followed her.  
  
-/-/-  
  
"Well, I want to inform you that tomorrow there will have a Japanese festival. They are preparing that event for months and you, my children, were invited to do a presentation of martial arts. Actually, a tournament. And the winner will win a surprise prize.", Yan Kwang said.  
  
"What if I don't want to go?", Xiao Fung asked and Yan frowned at him.  
  
"All of you will participate! This is an order!", he snapped and his eyes glowed red angrily. Xiao flinched and lowered his head.  
  
"Except for Bai Tsa and Po Kong. You two will do another thing.", he continued.  
  
"What?", Po asked.  
  
"You'll have to do something to expose in the artistic section."  
  
Po Kong made an unhappy face, but didn't say anything. She knew absolutely nothing about art, and she didn't have idea of why her father wanted to force them to do that. But she couldn't question him.  
  
At the same time, Hsi seemed even more worried. How could he stay with Sakura in the festival if now he would have to participate in a martial arts tournament? On top of that, he'd have to fight against his brothers. Hsi Wu was sure that would be massacred. 


	5. The Festival

I'm a very bad mood. Everything is going wrong today! And lack of reviews just makes me even more depressed. I didn't feel like posting anything so soon, and suddenly I thought that all my fics were horrible, but I'm posting it anyway. Oh, if I don't get more reviews, I won't be able to write anymore... I lose my self-confidence, you know... I'm just posting this chapter because it was already translated before. Thank you very much for the all reviewers.  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 5: The Festival  
  
"Ahh, I don't understand why we have to do that! And I also don't understand why we have to stay in our human forms when we are outside.", Po Kong complained.  
  
"So what are you going to do, Po?", Bai asked.  
  
"I don't know... Maybe ikebana...", the mountain demon answered and Hsi flinched. If his sister was really going to make an ikebana, it would just worse everything. He couldn't meet with Sakura, that would be very suspicious. Po Kong looked at him.  
  
"What's the problem, Hsi? You look worried...", she remarked.  
  
"Uh? No, it's nothing..."  
  
"He must be worried because he is going to fight against all his brothers...", Liu guessed.  
  
"Who do you think that will be the winner?", Mei asked in deep thought.  
  
"Of course it will be Tchang Zu! He's the oldest and has more experience.", Shii Nah declared confident.  
  
"I don't know... We have to keep in mind that they'll fight in their human forms In other words, they won't use their powers. Then I think the others have some chance too.", Mei defended.  
  
"Others? You mean Shendu...?", Bai asked in a sarcastic tone.  
  
"Actually, I do! So what?", Mei asked frowning.  
  
"Shendu is one of the youngest. He's very weak and will have no chance at all."  
  
"Shendu may not be the strongest now. But you'll see, someday he'll be stronger and more powerful than all of his siblings together!", Mei shouted and noticed that everyone was staring at her in suspicion.  
  
"What exactly do you mean with that, Mei Liang?", Shii Nah asked and Mei didn't say anything, but just looked away and stood up quickly to leave.  
  
"Answer! Now!", Shii Nah demanded and Mei stopped.  
  
"It means nothing. Never mind. I'll be right back.", she answered angry and left the room.  
  
"You know, sometimes I can understand why she and my fool brother match so much.", Bai remarked bitterly.  
  
"Because they're both dragons?", Hsi asked.  
  
"No, because they both have an extremely nasty character. And that Mei Liang is so..."  
  
"What?", Po Kong asked.  
  
"I don't know... I don't like her. We can't trust her..."  
  
"I have to agree. She seems to have something bad in mind, and the worst is that sometimes strange things happen between her and her fiancé.", Shii Nah said thoughtful and everybody looked in surprise at her.  
  
"What do you mean?". Liu asked raising a brow.  
  
"Didn't you notice? They're always fighting with each other, but when nobody is looking, they're always doing... uhn... you know what... together.", Shii answered slightly uneasy and everybody was even more surprised.  
  
"I don't believe! One, Shendu hates her since they met each other. Two, he's still very young to do that sort of thing.", Bai said and Shii Nah shook her head.  
  
"No, I'm sure! I saw with my own eyes."  
  
"You probably was dreaming...", Bai said not believing yet.  
  
"I'm saying it's true! And I'll prove it!"  
  
"Prove? How?"  
  
"I don't know yet. But someday I'll prove it for you all.", she promised and the room was silent for a while.  
  
"Uhn... So... Bai Tsa, did you decide what you're going to do in the Japanese festival?", Liu asked trying to change the subject.  
  
"Of course. I'm going to paint.", the water demon answered.  
  
"Do you know how to paint?"  
  
"I also know how to play some musical instruments. But I like more to paint.", Bai said and Mei entered in the room again and sat down.  
  
"What are you talking about?", she wanted to know.  
  
"About what we are going to do in the festival. Bai Tsa is going to paint.", Liu explained.  
  
"And you?", Shii Nah asked to Liu Yue.  
  
"I'm going to dance. And you?"  
  
"I'm going to fig- Uhn... I don't know yet...", Shii Nah answered nervously.  
  
"And you, Mei?"  
  
"I don't know either..."  
  
"You could go to Kabuki.", Bai Tsa suggested and everybody began to laugh.  
  
"But isn't that just for men?", Liu managed to ask, since she was the most discreet.  
  
"That doesn't matter. Nobody would notice with the whole make-up!", Shii Nah managed to answer as she laughed. Mei frowned and clenched her fists angry. All the others always mocked of her because she was a bit violent sometimes.  
  
Mei Liang was a pink dragon and the demon of the dreams. She usually was wearing pink, red or purple robes or kimonos, and yet was known as the less feminine by everybody in the palace and she obviously didn't like when the other females decided to mock of her because of that.  
  
But unlike of what everyone thought that she would do, Mei didn't say anything. She just glared at Bai Tsa and Shii Nah and left the room again. They all stopped laughing.  
  
"Hmm... She's not like that. What could have happened?", Liu asked a bit worried.  
  
"Ah, forget her. Hsi, don't you have to train?", Shii Nah asked and Hsi stood up quickly.  
  
"Oh, that's right. I have to train with my brothers now.", he said and Shii also stood up.  
  
"I'm going too."  
  
-/-/-  
  
"So we're going to train in our human forms. How boring...", Shii Nah complained in a low voice.  
  
"That's because the result will be better, since we can't participate of the tournament in our true forms.", Xiao explained. The three demons approached of the other brothers and Tchang Zu raised one of the hands to stop them.  
  
"Shii Nah, you cannot train with us today."  
  
"What? Why not?"  
  
"Because you're a female and would just disturb us. Today is serious, we can't waste time with you. It's already enough that we have to train with Hsi Wu and Xiao Fung, you'd be an obstacle even worse."  
  
"Look at me! Did you already forget what I am and where I came from?", she asked and Tchang Zu stared at her coldly. Of course he remembered. She was an Amazon, the jungle demon and a very agile and skilled fighter. Shii Nah always liked to train, in her human form or in her true form, though she preferred the second option. Tchang Zu admired her, she was different from the other female demon. But she was a female anyway.  
  
"I know you are skilled, but it's better if you stay with the other females today. And remember that you still have to come up with something to the festival.", the thunder demon said turning to back training. Shii clenched her fists.  
  
"I'll show you...", she muttered angry and left.  
  
-/-/-  
  
Everybody was in human form. The females dressed Japanese kimonos. Mei Liang, as usual, was wearing a pink kimono. Shii Nah was wearing a green one, since it was her favorite color because it reminded her of her homeland and her element. Liu Yue was wearing a white kimono, and because her human form's skin was very pale, she was looking like a ghost and was scaring a lot of people. She liked that though, she was just like her fiancé. They both preferred the loneliness. Tso Lan, unlike his siblings - mainly his sister - liked his fiancée a lot, though he had a human lover. But it was a secret that just some of his siblings knew and Liu also knew that, but she didn't mind at all and even found the scene of them together very funny.  
  
All the males were wearing fighting clothes (A/N.: I think it's called "gi", right?), except for Yan Kwang and Lehn Wuong, who were wearing masculine kimonos and were looking like samurais.  
  
"Very well. Now the females get ready for the artistic part of the festival while I take the rest to the tournament preparing.", Yan said and they were separated in two groups.  
  
-/-/-  
  
"Bai Tsa, can I see what you painted?", Liu asked and Bai turned to face her.  
  
"Sure.", she answered and showed a picture that she was carrying under her arm and was involved by a cloth. Everybody looked to the painting. It was a couple in Japanese clothes kissing each other and in the background there was a beautiful landscape, with a lake and the Mt. Fuji.  
  
"Wow! It's beautiful!", Liu said really amazed.  
  
"How did you paint that if you weren't in Japan to see how the landscape looked like?", Po Kong asked while admiring the beauty of the painting.  
  
"Ah, great artists like me just use the imagination and the creativity. The rest is pure talent.", Bai answered proud. Mei looked to the picture in despise and snorted.  
  
"I don't remember that lake.", she remarked coldly and Bai Tsa's smile died.  
  
"Like if you had already been there to know.", the water demon snapped.  
  
"No, but I saw several painting of that place. From real painters. And none of them was like this. You see, I have never been in Japan and still I know more than you about there."  
  
"Why you...", Bai said her eyes glowing red and Po Kong stayed between them.  
  
"Hey, don't start a fight here. Why don't you separate and go to your own part of the festival?", she said and it was exactly what they did. Po Kong sighed and glanced at Liu Yue.  
  
"They just fight. Like fiancé, like fiancée.", the mountain demon remarked referring to the frequents fights between Bai Tsa and Shendu.  
  
"And here I thought that they had managed to get along. Just yesterday they were together all the time.", Liu said.  
  
"Well, we should go to our part of the festival too. So, Shii Nah, you-", she said turning to face the jungle demon and stopped when seeing that Shii Nah wasn't with them.  
  
"Ara! Shii Nah? Where's she?"  
  
"I don't know... She was right here just a minute ago."  
  
"She must already have gone to make her presentation.", Po Kong said turning to leave too.  
  
"Oh well. I wanted to see Shii Nah's presentation. She didn't even said what she was going to do.", Liu lamented in a low voice to herself.  
  
"I'll see you later, when you're dancing.", Po said.  
  
"Ok.", Liu answered shortly and also went look for her section of the festival.  
  
Po continued walking and fought to not get her ikebana destroyed. There were a lot of people in the festival, people from the whole world. After many bumps, shoves, stumbles and tramples, the mountain demon finally managed to get in a calmer area.  
  
"Where's the ikebana section after all?", she wondered and bumped into a seemingly thirteen-year-old boy. They stood up at the same time and Po Kong was surprised when seeing who he was.  
  
"Hsi Wu?"  
  
*****  
  
I'm NOT plagiarizing VampireNaomi! About the idea of Bai Tsa being a talented painter and the creation of the demon of the dreams... We two had the same idea, what can I do?  
  
Now I beg you... please REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not just this fic, but my other fics too!!!! 


	6. The Martial Arts Tournament

I feel much better now. Besides, this chapter was already translated too. I forgot to tell you that this fic is not a humor fic, then don't expect that all the chapters have humor. Some of them are dramatic all the time. Well, I think this chapter is not a example of such drama.  
  
WARNING: I don't know how to narrate fight scenes, then don't expect too much from this tournament... And I don't know if Panatinaikos is a Greek name for men either. I was told that it was a Greek soccer team's name, but anyway I think it is a good name for the character.  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 6: The Martial Arts Tournament  
  
Before Hsi could say anything, Po Kong looked at her left and saw the so much wanted ikebana section. Hsi Wu also looked at there and saw Sakura talking with her mother. Po turned to face him again.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"I..."  
  
"Hsi Wu!", Sakura yelled when she saw him and the two demons looked at her. The girl approached of them.  
  
"I'm so glad that you're here. Who's she?", Sakura asked smiling at Po Kong.  
  
"She's my sister Po Kong. Po, this is Sakura.", he said. The mountain demon smiled and bended down.  
  
"Omae wa nihonjin da na?", she asked and Hsi raised a brow. He hated when somebody began to talk in a language that he couldn't understand. Sakura nodded.  
  
"Hai.", she answered.  
  
"Watashi mo. Demo chuugoku ni sodatta node nihon ga amari shiranai na... Mainen nihon ni iku kedo..."  
  
"Ah, zannen desu ne. Shikashi, anata wa watashi-tachi to isshoni nihon e kaette mo ii desu."  
  
"Hontou ka? Itsu kaeru ka?"  
  
"Mada yoku wakarimasen ga raigetsu da to omoimasu."  
  
Po Kong rose up smiling and looked at Hsi Wu.  
  
"I like her."  
  
"What were you talking about?", he asked annoyed.  
  
"I'll go to Japan with her. Probably next month."  
  
"What? But you can't just decide things like this by yourself! You need our father's permission.", he said and Po snorted.  
  
"I had already talked to him about that. He already gave me permission, then you can begin to take care of your own life. In fact, shouldn't you be with our father and our brothers right now?"  
  
"What does she mean, Hsi?", Sakura asked curiously.  
  
"Uh... I..."  
  
"He's going to participate in the martial arts presentation.", Po Kong answered for him.  
  
"But isn't Kung Fu from China?", she asked raising a brow.  
  
"Yeah, I found it strange too. But the important thing is that I can have some fun by seeing Hsi being massacred by our brothers.", Po Kong said grinning and Sakura turned to face Hsi.  
  
"I want to see you fighting. When is it going to be?"  
  
"It will take some time yet, so why don't we-", he was interrupted by Po Kong.  
  
"What do you mean, Hsi? It's going to start soon. Better you hurry. I'll have much pleasure in taking Sakura to watch your fight. Then she can see how weak you are.", the mountain demon said in a slightly sarcastic tone and Hsi frowned.  
  
"Ok, I'm going then."  
  
-/-/-  
  
"Ahhh! Damn festival! Where's the paintings section?", Bai Tsa shouted impatiently and began to mutter lots of curses. She was looking for the paintings section for a good while already and was almost asking information to the humans.  
  
She began to lose her nerves more and more and soon she wasn't even paying attention where she was going anymore.  
  
"They should put some indic- Ouch!", she shouted when bumped into a man, and they two dropped in the ground.  
  
"Grrr, idiot! Why don't you...", she went decreasing her voice tone as she observed the men standing up.  
  
"Sorry! I'm really sorry. Are you ok?", he asked concerned and stretched his hand to help her to stand up too. Usually Bai Tsa would have refused his help, but she was more concentrated on the man's look. For some strange reason, it attracted her. She held his hand and he pulled her.  
  
"You know... All this people, this mess...", he said smiling weakly and rubbing the back of his head.  
  
Bai didn't say anything, just stared. He didn't have an oriental human's characteristics. To the water demon, that was rare. He had a very pale skin and black hair reaching his shoulders. His eyes were dark blue.  
  
"I bet you are looking for the paintings section.", he said waking her up from her thoughts.  
  
"Uh? How do you know?", she asked still a bit confused.  
  
"You're carrying a painting. I was looking for that section too.", he said lifting his picture. Bai Tsa looked at it carefully. It had a mountain, with a village and a shepherd with some sheep. Among the clouds in the sky there were sunshine rays that made a beautiful effect.  
  
"It's... It's very beautiful...", she said stuttering.  
  
"Thank you. It's a very famous place where I came from."  
  
"It's...", she closed her eyes trying to remember. "It's the Mt. Olympus!", she said and the man nodded.  
  
"That's right."  
  
"So you're from Greece.", she said and he nodded again.  
  
"My name is Panatinaikos. And you are...?"  
  
"I'm Bai Tsa."  
  
"It's a pretty name. Just like you. So Bai Tsa, would you like to look for the paintings section with me?", he suggested and Bai Tsa nodded.  
  
-/-/-  
  
The tournament began. Po Kong and Sakura were together waiting for Hsi Wu's turn to fight. Bai Tsa and Panatinaikos had left their section too, though they had just found it. Liu Yue approached of Po and tapped her in the back.  
  
"Oh, it's you? And then?", she asked and Liu shook her head.  
  
"I didn't find Shii Nah in nowhere."  
  
"But where would her be? She didn't come to see our exhibitions either..."  
  
Sakura began to hide behind Po. Liu glanced at her.  
  
"Who's that little girl?"  
  
"Hsi Wu's friend.", the mountain demon answered shortly and looked at Sakura.  
  
"What are you afraid of?", she asked.  
  
"That woman is scary...", the girl whispered.  
  
"Oh, don't worry. She's a human just like me and you.", Po said and she and Liu looked at each other with sarcastic smirks. Suddenly, the beginning of the tournament was announced. Mei reached the group breathless.  
  
"Finally, I managed to escape...", she said difficultly and Liu and Po looked at her in surprise.  
  
"Mei! What happened to you?", the mountain demon asked.  
  
"Are you alright?", Liu asked before Mei answered.  
  
"I'm going to be alright. Just remind me of never entering for the Cha no Yu.", she said trying to recompose, arranging her kimono and her hair. Po Kong looked at Liu with an interrogative glance and she just shrugged.  
  
Everybody turned attentions to the tournament again. The first fight was between Tchang Zu and Tso Lan.  
  
The fight didn't take too long. Tso Lan didn't have any interest in winning this tournament and didn't like to fight, mainly in his human form. He soon was thrown out the arena and everyone thought he had lost on purpose. Because he seemed to be alright, Liu Yue didn't even bother to leave from where she was.  
  
The second fight was between Hsi Wu and Dhai Jiang. Hsi went nervously to the arena. He thought he had luck for not having to fight against one of his brothers. But then again he didn't have any idea of how Dhai fought. He was much older than the sky demon and looked very calm and self-confident. And Dhai had not trained with him and his brothers.  
  
Hsi took a fight position and tried not to look at Sakura, who was watching him eagerly and carefully. Dhai didn't move even an inch, though. Hsi snapped angry, he didn't know that the swamp demon was so arrogant.  
  
The arbitrator announced the beginning of the fight and Hsi immediately jumped and kicked Dhai Jiang's face. For everyone's surprise, Dhai flew out the arena, making Hsi the winner. Everybody stared at Dhai while he stood up and went away like nothing had happened.  
  
"Damn, they're not fighting seriously! First Tso Lan, and now Dhai Jiang...", Yan Kwang complained.  
  
Suddenly, the arbitrator seemed to have remembered of the tournament and gave up of trying understanding what had happened. He announced that the next fight would be between Xiao Fung and Shendu. Yan hit his forehead with his hand.  
  
"Ah, guess what... Xiao Fung is going to lose on purpose too...", he muttered.  
  
"But had not Xiao won of Shendu in their last fight?", Lehn asked.  
  
"He had cheated that time, remember?"  
  
"Oh, that water stuff, right?", Lehn said remembering and Yan nodded.  
  
"But Xiao Fung is older. He has more chances of winning. I bet-"  
  
"Look out!", Yan suddenly yelled moving away from Lehn.  
  
"What?", he asked turning his head, but it was already too late. He was hit by an unconscious Xiao Fung who had been thrown out the arena by Shendu. The two demons were fallen in the ground while the arbitrator announced the winner.  
  
"What were you saying?", Yan asked in a sarcastic tone and Lehn stood up with certain difficulty.  
  
"Nothing, never mind."  
  
The next fight was Dai Gui versus Pian Shi. When the two fighters went to the arena, Yan raised a brow.  
  
"Strange, Pian Shi is a bit different. He looks thinner...", he remarked thoughtfully. Pian Shi was looking like a ninja, his body and his face totally covered. He and Dai took a fight position. 


	7. Mess in the Tournament

Yeah, this chapter was already translated too. This is the last though, and now I have to continue translating. Ah, I can't stand these short chapters, but I don't want to edit this fic too! I'm very lazy... But they'll become longer soon.  
  
Reminding you of the author incompetence to narrate fight scenes, I won't get into details about them in this chapter too.  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 7: Mess in the Tournament  
  
The fight was balanced. Although the earth demon was physically stronger, his opponent was very agile and skilled. He knew how to take advantage of his adversary's strength and turn it against him. This was being the most interesting fight until now and everybody was excited with it.  
  
They stopped for a while in order to recover the breath and just faced at each other. Dai, as well as almost all of his siblings, noticed that Pian Shi's fighting style was very familiar, though this was the first time they saw him. Yan Kwang still watched Pian thoughtfully, trying to understand the sudden change of his style, corporal mass and his silence. Pian Shi was always a very talkative demon, mainly during fights, since he liked to annoy his opponents.  
  
As soon as Dai recomposed, he moved forward to attack Pian, who smiled in victory. He managed to escape from the blow, catching the earth demon by his clothes and using his foot to give a low one and make him lose his balance. Then Pian got to raise Dai Gui in the air and throw him out the arena.  
  
Everyone was impressed with the two demons' performance, including Yan Kwang, though he was still intrigued about Pian. All the people applauded the two fighters, who left the arena to give place to the arbitrator.  
  
Before the semi-finals, there would be an interval, and now Xiao Fung has just wakened up.  
  
-/-/-  
  
Bai Tsa was commenting about the fights and the participants with Panatinaikos, when suddenly she felt a hand touching her shoulder. She turned to see that it was her fiancée and Xiao Fung.  
  
"You? What are you doing here?". She asked angry.  
  
"My, why are you so angry at us?", Xiao asked pretending to be hurt.  
  
"Because you two are a shame to our family! How could you lose so easily? Stay away from me before somebody notices that we know each other!", she demanded turning to go away, but Dhai held her arm.  
  
"Wait. There's a reason for me to have lost on purpose.", he said and Bai turned to glare at him.  
  
"I'm part of a group-", he started and Bai pushed him so that he let her go.  
  
"Enough! I can't stand you! Stay away from me!", she snapped angry and pulled Panatinaikos by his wrist.  
  
"Who were they, Bai Tsa?", Panatinaikos asked after a while and she snorted.  
  
"My fool brother and... a friend of him.", she answered.  
  
"You have a brother? Cool, I always wanted to have a brother or a sister.", he said smiling and Bai bumped into another person. She got even angrier when seeing who was. Shendu... If there was someone who she hated more than Xiao Fung or Dhai Jiang, that someone was the fire demon.  
  
"What's it now?", she asked clenching her teeth.  
  
"I'm the one who should ask it. It was you who bumped into me.", he snapped and looked at Panatinaikos.  
  
"Who's that? Your lover?", he asked and Bai Tsa almost died of shame.  
  
"No, idiot! What do you think I am?", she shouted embarrassed and Shendu smirked.  
  
"With a fiancé like that, I thought that you wouldn't take so long to find a lover. Well, but I really didn't expect too much from you...", he remarked and Bai Tsa clenched her fists trying to keep self-control.  
  
"My name is Panatinaikos. Nice to meet you.", the Greek man said politely and Shendu didn't say anything, but just glanced at him is despise.  
  
"Bai Tsa, don't tell me that he's your brother too...", Panatinaikos said turning to face the water demon.  
  
"Unfortunately yes...", she answered slitting her eyes.  
  
"How many siblings do you have anyway? It must be good to have such a big family, huh?", he remarked not noticing her rage.  
  
"Believe me, it's not!", she said glaring at Shendu.  
  
"What's the problem, Bai Tsa? Are you angry because you and your lover had to watch your fiancé's shameful defeat?", Shendu said just to annoy her. Now Bai tsa was almost exploding.  
  
"You have a fiancé, Bai? Why didn't you tell me?", he asked and when seeing his sisters rage before the Greek man, Shendu decided to annoy her even more. He found very fun to see her angry and she felt the same way for him.  
  
"So you didn't know? Do you remember that fool who lost the second fight in the tournament? He's Bai Tsa's fiancé. As you could well see, he's very weak and coward. Very nasty too. The perfect fiancé for this imperfect creature that is my sister. Certainly those two accidents of the nature deserve each other and-"  
  
"AHHHHHH!!!!!!! WRETCH!!!!!!", Bai Tsa finally lost her self-control and moved forward to attack Shendu, who immediately got serious and took a fight position. Panatinaikos stepped back, seeing the danger that would be stay between them now.  
  
Usually their fight would have been balanced. Despite their age difference they had almost the same strength. But this time Bai Tsa was really out of control, what gave her "extra strength". Shendu barely could defend himself, and all their siblings tried to stop the water demon. Well, nobody managed to do that before it was too late.  
  
She gave a sequence of punches in Shendu, who fell unconscious in the ground. Bai was ready to continue the attack when finally Tchang Zu, Dai Gui and Po Kong managed to stop her.  
  
"Calm down, Bai Tsa!", Po Kong demanded and Bai drew a deep breath. She glanced around herself and was very embarrassed when seeing that everybody in the festival was staring at her. The worst was to see that Panatinaikos was among them, and he seemed to be the most surprised.  
  
Dhai Jiang was looking at her with admiration and pride. Yan Kwang looked angry. Tso Lan was serious, with a disapproving glance and Hsi Wu, Xiao Fung, Mei Liang and Po Kong approached of Shendu who was still unconscious in the ground, with a face like this: @_@.  
  
"Is he alive?", Xiao Fung asked half-joking and Po and Hsi knelt down to check.  
  
"He's just unconscious.", Po said carrying him to the festival medical room while most of the people began to go away and waited the continuation of the tournament. Tchang Zu swallowed.  
  
"Fortunately she's not participating of the tournament...", he commented and Dai Gui nodded.  
  
-/-/-  
  
"Wow... Bai, I didn't know that you were so strong. I think it's very nice, you know?", Panatinaikos remarked smiling.  
  
"Rea... Really?", she asked still very embarrassed.  
  
"Yes. That means that you are a girl with strong personality, who knows how to defend yourself and doesn't depend of anybody.", he said and Bai Tsa felt a bit better. Indeed, seeing for this angle it wasn't so bad after all.  
  
-/-/-  
  
The fight between Tchang Zu and Hsi Wu began. Everyone already knew who would be the winner, except for Sakura who was still cheering aloud for Hsi. Po and Liu glanced at each other raising a brow. Hsi was still very young and weak. No way was he going to win.  
  
In the arena, he was saying to himself that he'd like to win. Losing in front of his siblings and his father was normal. They already knew his limits. Losing in front of all those strange mortals didn't bother him either. They would think that he was just too younger. The problem was Sakura. He didn't know why, but that was a thought that really didn't please him. He stared at Tchang Zu hopelessly. The sky demon's defeat was obvious.  
  
They began to fight and initially it was balanced. The thunder demon was just giving him some chance so that his brother's defeat wouldn't be so shameful. After all, he was part of the family and that wouldn't be good for their reputation.  
  
Suddenly, when observing Hsi Wu's expression during the battle, Sakura stopped cheering and became serious. She didn't understand why Hsi wasn't making an effort to win.  
  
Hsi managed to punch Tchang in his face, and that made that thunder demon angrier. He gave up of going easy on his brother and hit him in the stomach with so much strength that threw him out the arena. Sakura flinched in worry and Po Kong sighed.  
  
"Yeah, I already expected that.", she commented and Sakura turned to face her.  
  
"Yes, he lost. But not for the reason that all of you are thinking.", she said firmly and the group walked to Hsi Wu.  
  
The arbitrator announced Tchang Zu's victory while the sky demon stood up yet a bit dizzy. He lifted his head and saw Sakura, Po Kong, Liu Yue and Mei Liang.  
  
"Hsi Wu, are you ok?", the girl asked worried. Hsi looked away and left running. He didn't want to face her now. It was a shame that a human child pitied a demon like him.  
  
"Hsi Wu! Wait!", she yelled.  
  
"Let it be. He'll forget it soon.", Po Kong said and Sakura ignored her, running after him.  
  
-/-/-  
  
Hsi Wu didn't go very far. His will was to fly as high as possible and at least for some minutes forget of everybody's existence. He looked for a desert place in the festival - which was rare - until he finally found it. It was a small lake that was reflecting the moonlight and the stars and there were some vacancy-fires flying above it.  
  
He was getting ready to take his true form and fly away when he heard Sakura calling him. He turned to face her and she recovered the breath before finally saying something.  
  
"Hsi, don't get so upset because of that. It's not worthwhile."  
  
"Leave me alone.", he said turning again to the lake and lowering his head.  
  
"I know why you've lost.", she said and Hsi snorted.  
  
"Of course you do. Just like everyone."  
  
"It's nothing you are thinking about. You know, actually that's the reason why you've lost. You think what everybody thinks. That you're weak. You aren't self-confident.", she said sadly and Hsi turned to face her again.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Tchang Zu was going easy on you, but you were so sure that would lose that didn't even notice that you actually could win. You don't have to be ashamed of having been defeated, you should be ashamed of not having tried.", she scolded and Hsi was in deep thought for a while.  
  
"If you don't believe in yourself, Hsi, nobody will do. You'll be no more able to show your true values.", she said and gave a pause while Hsi stared at her.  
  
"That's the real victory.", she continued and hugged Hsi. He tried to push her back, but she just hugged him harder and he slowly gave up and hugged her too. Her hug was so... warm and soothing. With Sakura, he forgot all his problems and shames. He felt great. It was a feeling similar to what he felt when flying alone in the sky.  
  
"I believe in you, Hsi.", Sakura said in a low voice. Hsi blushed and his heart beated more and more fast. He was confused. What was this feeling? All he wanted now was to be there, hugging Sakura, for ever.  
  
She slowly moved away of him, and stretched her hand.  
  
"Come on, Hsi. Let's go back together.", she said smiling and almost unconsciously he held her hand, and they returned together to the tournament.  
  
-/-/-  
  
"Where were you?", Po Kong asked when she saw Hsi Wu and Sakura returning. Now they weren't holding hands in order to not cause suspicions.  
  
"That's not important. Who's going to fight now?", Sakura asked and Po Kong shrugged.  
  
"Not sure. The arbitrator and some few people of the tournament went to see something, and here we are waiting them.", she answered.  
  
"Oh, look. It's the arbitrator.", Liu said pointing to the man in the arena.  
  
"Well, the next fight would be between Shendu and Pian Shi, but since Shendu is still unconscious and disable to fight, Pian Shi is going to fight against Tchang Zu.", he announced and the two demons went to the arena.  
  
*****  
  
Ok, I give up. I think the demons are OOC. You don't have to comment about it. 


	8. Pian Shi is a Sham?

More fight scenes? Oh, no! Not again! I already said that I don't know how to write those things! >_ 

Thank you very much for those who reviewed!^^ 

*****

**Chapter 8: Pian Shi... a Sham?**

"Ready to lose, Pian?", Tchang asked to provoke him. 

"No, I'm ready to win. But you should watch your mouth.", Pian whispered in such a low tone that Tchang barely could hear him. 

"Hmph, don't think that just because you had a hard fight against Dai Gui the same is going to happen now. I am infinitely superior to you two." 

"We'll see that." 

They took a fight position and began to fight lightly. Pian was very agile and fast. On the other hand, Tchang Zu was having a hard time. His only advantage was his strength. 

-/-/-

"Who do you want to win, Bai Tsa?", Panatinaikos asked to begin a conversation. 

"Tchang Zu, of course! He's my brother.", she answered without removing her eyes from the battle. 

"Wow, but how many siblings do you have after all?" 

"Six brothers and one sister." 

"Your family really is bigger than what I thought. Could you introduce them to me?", he asked and Bai didn't seem to hear. 

"Bai Tsa?", he called and Bai Tsa blinked as if she had just wakened up of a trance. 

"Uh? Oh... Ok, ok... Alright...", she answered though she really didn't hear the question. Panatinaikos frowned. 

"Bai Tsa, what happened? You look absent-minded...", he said and Bai finally looked at him. 

"No, it's just that... this is very strange...", she said looking back to the fight. 

"Do you think so? Well, then we can spend the rest of the night together in the festival instead of introductions. It's ok to me.", he said and stared at him in confusion. 

"What? What are you talking about?", she asked. 

"Well, I understand... You must be tired. But I still don't know why you think that it's strange to introduce your siblings..." 

"But I'm not talking about it!" 

"Really? So what's strange?", he asked confused and Bai Tsa nodded to the fight. 

"Their fighting style is very similar. I don't understand what that means." 

-/-/-

After a long while fighting, the two demons were already covered in bruises and tears in some parts of their clothes, mainly of their shirts. Tchang Zu was not worried about that. It was very common to tear clothes during such hard battles, but for some strange reason Pian Shi looked worried about it. 

They stopped to recover the breath before fighting ferociously again. Pian was going to hit Tchang when the thunder demon managed to dodge jumping back and then running at full speed to attack Pian. 

"Now I got you!", Tchang Zu announced triumphant and tried to punch Pian, who dodged right on time. 

"No, Tchang! *I* got you!", he yelled grabbing one of the thunder demon's arm and turning around to throw him out the arena. (A/N: I don't know very much about martial arts, but I think that is an "ippon".)

Now everybody was really surprised, mainly Tchang Zu. He could swear that he had heard a woman voice. He quickly got, sitting in the ground and stared at Pian Shi who was walking to him. 

"If you had trained with me this wouldn't have happened.", Pian said and Tchang Zu noticed something. 

"That voice... You are...", he started and before finishing his sentence, Pian removed his mask, revealing to be actually Shii Nah. 

"Shii Nah!" 

"Look who is the weak being now.", she said sarcastically and after a short while Tchang smirked. 

"I'm impressed. Maybe I've been underestimating you." 

"If you want me to, I can give you a special training.", she said winking and the thunder demon immediately jumped on his feet. 

"Certainly. When do we begin?" 

"What about now?", she asked smiling and approached of her fiancé. 

"It sounds good.", he answered and involved her shoulders with his arm, and they went away whispering something. 

Everybody in the tournament just stared in surprise how the couple went away slowly. 

"Wait! If she was pretending to be Pian Shi, where is the true one?", the arbitrator asked to Yan Kwang who looked at Lehn Wuong who just shrugged. 

-/-/-

Shendu woke up and made a great effort to stay awake. His head ached and he was a bit dizzy. He was laid in a bed, with a cloth wet with cold water on his forehead. There was too much noise coming from outside and he quickly noticed that was still in the festival. The fire demon sat in the bed and waited until his vision returned to the normal, since the room seemed to be turning around. 

After a while, he finally stood up and wandered slowly along the corridors of the ward. 

"Blast... Bai Tsa will pay for that...", he muttered and suddenly heard some beats coming from one of the rooms. He followed the sound until finding a small trunk that was in a dark corner of the room. 

-/-/-

"And now? What are we going to do?", Yan asked discouraged. 

"What do you mean?", Lehn asked. 

"Tchang Zu and Shii Nah went away. If I know them well, they certainly are going to travel to her homeland. And now there's nobody to receive the surprise prize that I've prepared." 

"And what's that surprise prize?" 

"A trip to Greece.", Yan answered and Lehn thought for a while. 

"I have an idea. Why don't you go with all of them?", he suggested. 

"The whole family? That's not a good idea... Remember what used to happen when I did that?" 

"This time is going to be better. What if you gave them separated rooms?", Lehn said Yan though. 

"Perhaps." 

-/-/-

All the demons were gathered in a ryokan, except for Liu Yue, Dhai Jiang, Lehn Wuong and Hsi Wu, who was still with Sakura. Two men suddenly came in the room and they looked very angry. 

"Shendu, you woke up.", Mei Liang said pleased. 

"Who's that? Your lover?", Bai Tsa asked sarcastically. 

"I'll kill you!", Shendu shouted about to attack his sister. 

"Shendu!", Yan Kwang yelled and the fire demon immediately stopped. 

"Where's that crazy female?", the other man asked looking around the room. 

"Which one? All of them are crazy.", Xiao Fung said and was pleased with the angry glares of the females. 

"A female demon in a human disguise, with green hair. She attacked me, tied me and gagged me, and then locked me inside a trunk in the ward!" 

"Oh, then you must be Pian Shi.", Yan said and Pian glared at him. 

"That won't just be like this! You will pay for this! I swear!", he shouted and left the room, slamming the door violently. Yan sighed and turned to the group. 

"Well, it's still early then you can continue enjoying the night and the festival. Just like Hsi Wu is doing now, I suppose." 

"Lord Yan Kwang, I already received my parents' answer.", Mei Liang said and everyone, except Yan, looked curiously at her. 

"Excellent. Shendu, I hope you don't mind if you are not with your fiancée tonight. We two have important business." 

"Of course I don't mind. You can even stay with her only for you forever.", Shendu muttered. 

"What did you say?" 

"Uh... Yes, father. Sure." 

"Good. We are leaving now. Don't fight.", Yan said and Mei Liang followed him. 

"Well... Someone has a suggestion of something to do now?", Po Kong asked after a long and silent while. 

"I do!", Xiao said lifting his hand and everybody ignored him. 

"Anyone?", she tried again. 

"Me! Me! I do have an idea!", Xiao insisted waving his hand. 

"Anyone BESIDES Xiao Fung have an idea?" 

"Nobody wants to hear my idea?", Xiao asked whining. 

"NO!", everybody answered at the same time. 

"Why not?" 

"Because your ideas never are good.", Bai Tsa replied impatiently. She preferred much more to be with Panatinaikos now. She had to leave him alone in the festival for this meeting and was sorry for that. She hated this sort of thing. Fortunately her fiancé was still in the festival, not here with her. 

"But this time it's going to be good! Let me talk!", Xiao asked with such a childish tone that got on his siblings' nerves. 

"All right! Say it already! Then you stop bugging us!", Po said. 

"Let's play-"

"Hey, wait! Did you just say 'play'? I don't see any child here! Not even Hsi Wu!", Bai Tsa interrupted. 

"Let me finish!" 

"Bai Tsa, let him finish...", Po Kong said rubbing her temples. 

"Let's do some pranks.", Xiao suggested and they stared at him. 

"Xiao Fung... I don't believe that you actually proposed such a childish thing!", Bai snapped and everybody nodded and didn't comment. Then Xiao thought for a short while. 

"Then let's kill humans!", he tried again and this time he got some interest from them. 

"Now *that* sounds good!", Shendu said approving. 

"Finally you said something that is worthwhile.", Dai Gui commented. 

"That would get people's attention. Our father won't like that...", Po reminded. 

"Ahh, not again! I am already fed up of this! Why do we have to stay in these pathetic human forms?", Shendu yelled impatiently. 

"Speak more quietly, Shendu! And that was our father's decision. You cannot disobey him." 

"Why did he decide that?" 

"We cannot question him. Your obligation is to obey him with no complain.", Po said severely and Shendu suppressed his desire to snap. 

"Does anybody have another idea?", the mountain demon asked again. 

"I do.", Tso Lan said calmly. 

"And what's it?", Po asked eagerly while everybody looked hopefully at him. 

"Let's make a board game tournament.", he proposed and everyone groaned in frustration. 

"Tso Lan, not everybody likes those things.", Shendu remarked and the moon demon glared at his siblings – mainly at Shendu – and they gulped, cold sweating. 

"B-But surely I am not that type. I'd love to play with a board game with you...", Shendu said smiling nervously and all the other siblings did the same, agreeing with monosyllabic words and nodding. 

"Good. I'll look for some board game.", he said leaving the room and everybody sighed in relieve. It was not very good to irritate the moon demon. He was usually calm, but he was the oldest after Tchang Zu and when he got angry it wasn't very wise to go against him. 

*****

Oh, what an exaggeration... Tso Lan is so wise, calm and peaceful. He rarely gets angry, but when he does... yes, that's dangerous.^^ 


	9. Death and Surprise!

Ohh, I'm beginning to hate this fic! My problem is not with this chapter, but the future ones don't make sense! What do I do now? Must I edit it? I'm thinking about rewriting it all again from the next chapter... Talking about editing, this chapter is chapter 9 and 10 together, since they were very short when separated.

I hope you still have interest in this fic even if it suddenly is not so funny... That's one of the reasons because I'm not pleased with this fic. In future chapters, there's no comedy... That's it! I'll edit my original version so that you will still like this story! u.u

Anyway, thank you for those who reviewed!^^ 

*****

**Chapter 9: Death and... Surprise!**

"I should have stayed with Panatinaikos...", Bai Tsa remarked bitterly. 

"I should have stayed in the bed...", Shendu also remarked. 

"I should have escaped when I had the chance.", Xiao Fung said uneasy. If there was something that he could do worse than martial arts, it was something that required logical reasoning. 

Tso Lan returned with a wood box and a small table of Japanese style. He placed it in the center of the room and the box on it. 

"Let's start." 

-/-/-

"Hsi, do you know the story about the Tanabata?", Sakura asked handing over to Hsi Wu a rectangular piece of paper. She also had one. 

"So-so. I know it'll be commemorated in some days, but we don't commemorate it here.", Hsi answered observing the paper. "I think it's about a man and a woman that loved each other, but I think her father wanted her to marry another man... then they fight... hmm... can't remember the rest. I just remember that in the end they can meet in only one day of the year, the day when the Tanabata is commemorated. Did I get it right?", he asked and Sakura laughed. 

"Yeah, kind of..." 

"My sister Po always tells me about Japanese stories." 

"And on that day we write a wish here...", she said pointing at the paper. "But we can do that today too." 

"Oh, alright. And what are you going to wish?", he asked while they took a paintbrush in the same place where Sakura had gotten the papers. 

"Ah, you know... That every girl's dream...", she said blushing a bit. Hsi thought for a moment. 

"I don't know... Pretty clothes?", he asked. 

"No, Hsi. That thing that every girl wants for the future...", she tried again and Hsi though for a longer while. 

"A charming body?", he asked unsure and Sakura gasped. 

"No! That thing that the girls do when they grow up...", she said a bit embarrassed. 

"Adulthood commemoration...?", he tried as his last option. 

"No, no! Never mind...", she said impatiently and Hsi could just stare at her, thinking about how he would never understand the girls. Sakura rolled her eyes and sighed. 

"And you, what are you going to wish?", she asked. 

"Ah... I don't know... I have no idea." 

"Come on, there must be something that you want very much.", she said and Hsi thought for a while. 

"No, there's nothing. It's enough what I have now.", he said and Sakura cleared her throat. 

"Think about your heart...", she suggested and Hsi raised a brow. 

"But I'm very healthy.", he said and Sakura shook her head. 

"That's not what I meant. Think about love..." 

"Oh, yes! Good idea!", he said beginning to write something in the paper. Sakura sighed. He was no innocent... She slowly looked at the paper to see what he was writing. 

'I don't want my father to find me a fiancée.'

"Good wish. Lately you have been very worried about that, right?", she remarked and Hsi nodded. 

"Can I see what you wished?", he asked since he had not found out her wish and was curious. Sakura hesitated. 

"Uhn... Well... I think...", she murmured unsure and he quickly took the paper from her hand. When reading it, he frowned. 

"What's written?", he asked and Sakura remembered that Hsi Wu couldn't speak or read Japanese. She sighed in relieve and opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by her mother. 

"Sakura-chan, I found the restaurant. Why don't you and your little friend go there? You must be hungry.", she said and Hsi Wu frowned. 'Little friend'? 

"All right. Let's go, Hsi?", Sakura said turning to face him and Hsi Wu nodded. He was still curious about her wish. He might not be able to read in Japanese, but the kanjis were almost the same in the two languages and he was sure that he had read the kanji of 'love'. 

-/-/-

Bai Tsa tried to suppress a yawn. Po Kong glanced at her and then at Shendu, who was with his head lowered. She elbowed his arm. 

"Shendu, are you sleeping?", she asked in a low voice and he just murmured something about Mei Liang being a lousy cooker. She frowned in annoyance. 

"Shendu!", she called and he 'woke up' with a startle. 

"Uh? What? What happened? Where am I?", he asked barely opening his eyes and yawned. 

"You were sleeping!", she said angry. 

"No, I wasn't...", he said settling down again. 

"Yes, you were.", she said and snapped when seeing that he had slept again. 

"Shendu!", she called almost as a loud shout and he woke up with a startle again. 

"Uh? What?" 

"Do not sleep.", she ordered and Shendu rubbed his eyes in order to try to stay awake. 

"Leave me alone. Why do I have to stay here waiting for that snail to think? That will never happen, anyway.", he said pointing at Xiao Fung, who was staring thoughtfully at some pieces on a board. Dai Gui was tapping his fingers against the table impatiently and Tso Lan was watching them. 

"Give up, Xiao. You loose! The only move you can do is forward, and I will win.", Dai Gui snapped. 

"You must never give up. You must always look for new angles, new moves, new strategies.", Tso Lan said calmly. 

"Yes, but when the game started, the moon was in the horizon. Now we can barely see it because it's very late! And even so Xiao Fung didn't finish that stupid game!", Shendu snapped. 

"Patience." 

"A-ha! I got it!", Xiao announced. 

"Finally! Now move your piece already!", Dai Gui ordered. 

"Look. I don't have to move it only forward. I can move it to the left, thus I take this piece...", he said moving his piece to where there was a Dai Gui's piece and removed it from the game. The earth demon sighed. 

"Then I take your last piece like this.", he said moving one of his pieces to where Xiao Fung's was and removed it from the game. Xiao Fung stared in shock at the board. 

"I win.", Dai Gui declared. 

"No, impossible! I thought of that move for hours!", he said placing his hands on his head. 

"Do not be a bad loser, Xiao. Shendu, Bai Tsa, it's your turn now.", Tso Lan said and the two siblings got up discouraged. 

-/-/-

Hsi Wu and Sakura were eating soba at the festival's restaurant. 

"You know, Hsi... You know almost all my family, but I don't know yours. I only saw some of your siblings but it was very fast and I didn't even have time to learn their names. And your parents... I have no idea of how they look like... And you never told me where you live as well." 

"Well, my father is here in the festival, but he had some important business. And my mother died some years ago. I was little that time and I don't remember her very well.", he replied. 

"Oh... I'm sorry..." 

"That's ok." 

"What about your brothers and sisters?" 

"They..." Hsi hesitated. "I don't know... Each one has a completely different character. We don't even look like siblings." 

"Sounds interesting. I want to meet all of them.", she said and Hsi noticed Xiao Fung coming in the restaurant. 

"There's your chance.", he said and Sakura glanced at the wind demon. 

"He's your brother?", she asked eagerly and Hsi nodded. Xiao Fung immediately noticed Hsi Wu and ran to him. 

"Sakura, this is Xiao Fung. He is the third youngest of us. Xiao, this is Sakura.", Hsi introduced and they bowed to each other. 

"Join us. I always wanted to meet Hsi's siblings.", Sakura said smiling and Xiao immediately sat down and looked at his brother. 

"Can you pay the bill? I have no money now and I'm starving.", he said grinning and Hsi Wu figured out the mistake he had just made. 

-/-/-

"You cannot make that move!", Bai Tsa shouted. 

"What do you mean? Of course I can! You did it five moves ago!", Shendu defended. 

"No, I just moved my piece from the center to the lateral and took two pieces of yours. You want to move your piece from one lateral to another and take three pieces doing a curve. You cannot do that!" 

"What's the difference between moving from the center to the lateral and from a lateral to another? I have credit! I took five pieces of yours!" 

"Anyway, you can't take three pieces doing a curve!" 

"Yes, I can! I play this game since many years and I always played this way! It's you who doesn't know the rules!" 

"I know them more than you do! Everybody knows that curves are not allowed! You must go straight!" 

"Shut up! If I want to do a curve I'll do a curve! Here, I took three of your pieces!", he shouted removing three pieces from the board! 

"No, put those back!", Bai demanded grabbing the three pieces and placing them where they had been in the board. 

"No, I took those pieces, they cannot return!", he said taking the pieces and the two demons kept pulling them one to each side. 

"Enough! Bai Tsa, Shendu is right. That move is perfectly valid when you have credit.", Tso finally decided to interfere. Shendu smiled in victory and Bai reluctantly sat down again to think of the next move. 

Po Kong sighed in frustration. Why couldn't her siblings be like Tso Lan who was always calm and mature? But no, instead of that they were all stupid and violent. Dai Gui, who had been seated beside her, slowly approached of his sister. 

"Po Kong, I have a plan. While Tso Lan is busy watching the game, I approach of him from behind and hit his head. He will faint and you look for ropes so that we can tie him while I look for a place to hide his body. Then we will be free of this torture. So, what do you think?", he suggested and Po just rolled her eyes. Yes, she was alone... 

-/-/-

"Wait, let me see if I got it...", Hsi said interrupting his brother, trying to calm down. "You were playing that game and you... lost! Dai Gui won?!", he asked in disbelief and Xiao shrugged. 

"He had luck. Besides, Tso Lan was helping him all the time." 

"I don't believe... I never thought that there was someone worse than Dai Gui...", he sky demon said shaking his head hopelessly and Xiao leaned forward. 

"Hsi Wu, let's make some pranks? Like in the old times. That little girl can come with us.", Xiao proposed. 

"Xiao, don't you think that's childish?" 

"But it's because I'll be considered an adult very soon, so I thought we could have some fun while I still can.", Xiao Fung said sitting again and when he looked at something behind Hsi Wu, his eyes widened. "Hsi Wu, I don't believe! I must be dreaming!", he said aloud. 

"What?", Hsi asked not really caring. 

"Shendu, Bai Tsa and Dai Gui are peacefully together!", Xiao said pointing at three people who had just came in the restaurant. Hsi turned to see them and raised the brows. 

"True, that's rare.", he murmured. When they three saw Hsi Wu and Xiao Fung, they approached of them. 

"You won't believe!", Bai Tsa said seriously. 

"What? What?", Xiao asked eagerly. 

"When we were all disqualified of the 'tournament', we were walking along the corridors of the ryoukan when we heard our father and Mei Liang. And..." She stopped and glanced at her two brothers. 

"We didn't hear too much but we found out that soon one more fiancée will come.", Shendu continued and Bai Tsa nodded. Hsi Wu was pale and Xiao Fung's expression was serious. 

"And we think she's for you, Xiao.", Bai Tsa added. 

"But I'm not even adult yet!" 

"And is that necessary? Shendu has a fiancée.", Bai Tsa said nodding at the fire demon, who gave her a glance as if he wanted to say 'You don't have to remind me of that!'. Xiao calmly took a bottle of rice wine. 

"All right, then. She can't be worse than Dhai Jiang... But tell me, you three have nothing better to do, right?" 

"Well, kind of... Why?", Bai wanted to know. 

"Let's do that thing I suggested in our meeting. The second option, remember?", he whispered and Dai Gui and Shendu smirked while Bai Tsa looked unsure. 

"Let's go, Bai Tsa?" 

"No... I'm going to return to the festival.", she said turning to go away and left the restaurant. Xiao Fung, Shendu and Dai Gui went right after her and Sakura looked at the sky demon. 

"They are your siblings too?" 

"Yes, they are..." 

"What are they going to do?", she asked curiously, imagining that it should be something really fun. 

"I don't know. And honestly and I don't want to know either. Let's go back to the festival.", he said dryly and Sakura smiled. 

"Alright." 

-/-/-

"Panatinaikos!", Bai called in the middle of the crowd and waved her hand. The Greek man waved back and smiled. 

"Bai Tsa, how good that you're back. I wanted to see you again.", he greeted and Bai snorted. This man had an annoying character, but in a certain way she preferred to stay with him than stay with her siblings or just stay alone with nothing better to do. 

"Your painting was very popular. Several people wanted to buy that. Then I sold it." 

"Oh, really?", she said not thrilled at all. "Come on, let's take a look at the rest of the festival.", she said turning around. 

"Ah, wait. The money.", he reminded. 

"I don't need it. You can stay with it." 

Panatinaikos stared at her in surprise. Was she such a generous person? Nobody ever gave him anything... 

-/-/-

"Very well, my brothers. The only thing better than killing humans is killing humans and plunder them.", Xiao said as the three demons walked for the corridors of a dark Japanese-style house. Shendu snorted. 

"Xiao Fung, there's nobody here. In fact, there's NOTHING here.", he pointed out and Xiao shook his head. 

"Do you remember that man called... uhn... Tahakashi Fukijata?", Xiao asked and Dai and Shendu glanced at each other. 

"You mean Takahashi Fujitaka...?", Shendu corrected. 

"Yes, yes, that's right. Well, he's very rich and is the one who organized this damn festival." 

"We know that." 

"So you know the advantages in killing him, don't you?", he said rubbing his hands together and licking his lips. "He is here, I'm sure.", he added. 

"We have to be discreet. If someone finds out our true identities, our father surely is going to kill us." 

They walked along the corridor until arriving at the last room. They carefully opened a little the door so that they first saw what was inside the room. It was very dark and at first they only heard some groans and yelps. There were a man and a woman in this room. 

"Hey, I think we got here too late. It seems that someone is already killing him and his wife.", Xiao said frowning. 

"It's not his wife. I saw her in the restaurant.", Shendu said pushing Xiao in order to see what was inside the room. 

"So what? Let's go in and kill the person who is killing them. And if they're still alive, let's kill them as well.", Dai said pushing Shendu. Xiao pushed the two brothers and Shendu pushed him. After a while, they finally got to find a good position so that they three could look at inside the room. 

There was a futon and many sheets everywhere. Unlike what they had thought, there were only two people in the room. A man and a woman, indeed, and they were lying in the futon and almost completely covered. 

"What are they doing?", Shendu asked frowning in confusion. 

"I think the man is killing the woman.", Xiao guessed and Dai just stared. 

"But I don't see any blood...", Shendu remarked. "And I never saw a slaughter like that." 

"Look, it may sound a bit strange, but I think she's liking whatever he's doing to her.", Xiao said beginning to grin as the moans increased. Dai snapped impatiently. 

"Let's kill them at once!", he said and his two brother nodded. Dai violently opened the door and were immediately noticed by the two people. The couple moved away the sheets so that they could see who had come in and was very surprised with the demons. However, the demons were much more surprised with what they saw... 

-/-/-

Hsi Wu and Sakura were observing the lake and the moon reflection in it. The glow-worms still were flying around there and the starry sky was even more beautiful. Indeed, a very romantic scene. And yet Hsi Wu felt weird, but in a certain way comfortable with Sakura. 

They had met for the first time just few months ago. Sakura's father was an important member of Japan's nobility and their family was very rich. Her mother was an ikebana specialist and came from a very traditional family. Sakura and her parents had come to China to prepare this festival and her father also had some political matters. He should have gone to see Yan Kwang, the north region demon lord, but he had been missing since some months and left only some trust friends to take care of his palace. Before leaving he had said that he was going to the south for political reasons and would be back soon. Then Yan had left Liu Yue's parents and some wizards in his place. 

Suddenly, Hsi thought of something that made shivers go down his spine. Someday he would have to go back to Hong Kong and she would have to go back to Japan. 

"What's the matter, Hsi?", Sakura asked noticing his concern. 

"It's that... What's going to happen when you have to return to Japan?" 

"Ah, don't worry, Hsi. My father comes here often. We'll meet again.", she assured. 

"But I don't live here. Soon I'll have to go back to Hong Kong..." 

"Hong Kong? Even better. My father has to go there to speak to Yan Kwang-sama.", she said unworried and Hsi froze as he heard his father's name. He opened his mouth to say something, but Sakura was faster than him. 

"I heard that he's a demon... What do you think about the demons, Hsi?", she asked and her expression was gloomier now. 

"Well..." 

"I hate them!", she said firmly and looked to be trying to contain a great hate inside her. Hsi Wu stared at her not knowing what to say. If she were any other person, maybe he would have killed her for such insolence. But Sakura... He didn't know why, but for a very short while he was sorry for being a demon. 

"But... why?", he asked uneasy. She frowned angry, staring at the horizon as if on this exact moment she could see the reason of her hate. 

"Because they killed my brother!", she said clenching her fists and Hsi Wu flinched. He wanted to say something in favor of the demons, but he himself had already killed several humans just for his own delight. 

"I-", they two said at the same time and stopped. 

"Go ahead, what were you going to say?", Hsi asked. 

"No, you speak first.", Sakura said. 

"No, I wasn't going to say anything important. You can talk, I insist.", Hsi said and Sakura hesitated. Then she looked at Hsi deeply in his eyes. 

"It's that I-", she started but again was interrupted by her mother, who suddenly appeared behind them. 

"Sakura-chan, it's very late. Let's look for your father and back to the ryokan. Mata ne, Hsi-kun.", she said politely bowing to the sky demon. Her mother went away and Sakura waited some minutes. Then she turned to face Hsi Wu and smiled, approaching her face of his and kissing his cheek. 

"Bye.", she said softly and went after her mother. Hsi Wu stared at her until he could not see her anymore. That farewell kiss thing was becoming a habit, and he was sure that farewells with physical touches were not common in Japan. Would this have some special meaning? 

*****

People used to kiss in Ancient China and Japan?! o_O" Well... I think not, but hey, do demons exist?^^" 


	10. Farewell

First of all, I'd like to say that I was going to change this fic's whole plot, but since everybody said it was good in the original, I decided to keep that story. But in the original version I forgot a lot of details, so I'll add those forgotten scenes making the necessary (or not! XD) changes. This chapter, for example. The second half is new, but I still think it makes more sense now. 

Anyway, thank you very much for those who reviewed and supported me!^_^ 

**VampireNaomi** – Thank you! And since I edited the fic, you'll soon be able to see (?) Xiao's fiancée. But just remember that this fic also has a future serious plot that will explain a lot of things, but I must hurry the time, can't tell all the details here or else this fic would be way tooooo long... o_O" 

**Forgotten Love** – Hey, it's so good to have a new reader for this fic! I love Japanese tradition too, and although the demons are Chinese, I'm trying to keep some Japanese culture. I'm sorry that this chapter is so long... I know you don't like/have time to read long chapters... ó.ò 

***** 

**Chapter 10: Farewell**

Hsi Wu woke up in his bed. It was still very early but he could already hear the demons' yells. They, as usual, were arguing. Hsi Wu had not found any other of his siblings after they left the restaurant. He had been the first one to go back home and had gone straight to his bed. Now he woke up with his siblings' insane shouts. 

He stood up with no enthusiasm and remembered that today was what his family knew as 'Mei's kitchen day'. It was a random day of the month that Mei had chosen to relieve the cookers of the palace so that she prepared the meals herself. However, everybody agreed that this day should be called 'indigestion day', but they thought that wouldn't be proper - and healthy! They would not only suffer because of her food, but also because of her anger when they criticized her. 

He went downstairs and everybody was gathered at the dinner room, except Tchang Zu, Shii Nah, Yan Kwang and Lehn Wuong. The argument was between Mei Liang and Bai Tsa. The water demon insisted that Mei was seasoning the food too much, but Mei didn't want any criticism. 

Hsi eyed his siblings. They looked discouraged, mainly Shendu, who already seemed to be suffering with his fiancée's food. He always was forced to be her 'guinea pig', and his expression wasn't encouraging at all. The only ones who managed to put up with her food were Xiao Fung and Po Kong, although the mountain demon was still a bit more tolerant than her brother. 

"Good morning.", Hsi greeted and everybody answered, except for Mei and Bai, since they were still arguing, and Shendu, who looked like he was going to faint at any moment. Hsi frowned. Usually he didn't get to that point. "Shendu, are you all right?", he asked. 

"It's that today Mei Liang decided to invent a new recipe. And Shendu had to try it.", Tso Lan replied since it seemed that the dragon didn't even know where he was. 

"New recipe...?", Hsi confirmed trembling and Tso Lan nodded. 

"Yes, she calls it 'Mei's Mix Surprise Soup'...", Tso added and Hsi Wu gulped. 

"'Mix Surprise'?", he repeated. He definitely didn't like those two words when it was about Mei cooking something. 

"It's done!", Mei announced and Bai crossed her arms angry, and reluctantly sat down. "Today you'll try a different and delicious thing. I present you 'Mei's Mix Surprise Soup'!", Mei said happily, placing in the center of the table a giant bowl with a purple-green bubbling liquid, with a sickening smell and a strange smoke. 

She served the soup to each one, and they noted that it seemed that a mutant living being was swimming in the soup. Hsi took the hashi (chopsticks) and lifted something that looked like an onion, but it was purple and was moving. He slowly put it back in the soup and drew a deep breath trying not to get nauseous. 

"Uh... Mei Liang... What's in this soup?", Bai asked prodding at the 'meat' with the hashi and Mei placed her hands on her hips. 

"Why do you think it's called 'Mix Surprise'? It's a surprise, I'll only reveal it later. Less the secret ingredient. There's no way I will reveal that.", she said proudly. 

Shendu was shaking so much that he barely could hold the hashi. In the attempt not to look at the soup, he looked at the other side of the table and saw Xiao Fung eating the 'meat' that seemed to still be alive. The other siblings also watched him carefully and Mei was eager to see his reaction. 

"It's all right. I don't know what you put here, but I think it would be better if you had killed it first.", he commented and Mei smiled. 

"Well, it mustn't be as bad as it looks like...", Dai Gui murmured and everyone nodded slowly. It seemed that Dhai Jiang liked it even more than Xiao Fung. After a long and torturing while, they finally finished. Right now, most of them thought it would be better if they never found out what had in that soup, but Xiao was still very curious. 

"Now, can you tell me the ingredients of this soup?", he asked and Mei smiled, crossing her arms. 

"Mud from the swamp, eel's saliva, frog's guts, a snake's heart, spider webs, and worms. I read that those things are very good for the skin.", she replied and Dhai Jiang licked his lips. 

"That's why I found the taste familiar. It's very good, Mei. Congratulations.", he praised. 

"Hohohohohoho, you'd be surprised with the secret ingredient.", she said and Shendu was literally green. 

"Mei Liang...", Tso Lan called. 

"Yes?" 

"You know, except for the secret ingredient, those ingredients are exactly the same used for a spell to attract animals." 

"What?", she asked in confusion and then seemed to have understood something. "So... that wasn't a cookery book?!" 

"You said the soup was yours!", Xiao reminded pointing at her. 

"With the secret ingredient, it becomes mine.", she defended crossing her arms. 

"Wait! What do you mean 'to attract animals'?", Hsi Wu asked worried and Mei Liang and Tso Lan glanced at each other. 

-/-/-

Now it was lunchtime, but Hsi Wu didn't feel like eating something so soon. He still felt nauseas just to think about that purple-green liquid... bubbling... fuming... His stomach hurt like never before and his room was infested with all the possible species of bird. Once in a while one of them came close to Hsi Wu, who had to drive it away with his hand. 

He finally decided to get up and leave his room. He opened the door slowly to make sure that Mei Liang wasn't near. Fortunately there wasn't anyone there and he could walk peacefully for the whole palace, with a lot of birds following him. Everything was very quiet, and strangely he didn't meet anyone in the palace. Hsi went to the library and saw Tso Lan, as expected. 

"Tso Lan...", he greeted and Tso lifted his gaze from the book he was reading. 

"Hsi Wu. How do you feel?" 

"Better. Where's everybody? The palace is deserted." 

"Our father has not returned yet. Mei and Liu went out to buy some medicines. Dhai Jiang is looking for Bai, who is running away from him. Probably Shendu is sleeping in his room, and I don't know where Po Kong, Dai Gui and Xiao Fung are.", he answered while driving away some rodents that were surrounding him. He was still suffering the effects of the spell too. Hsi glanced around himself, noting that some books were not in the library. 

"What happened to the books that were here?", he asked pointing at an almost empty shelf and had to drive away a bird that wanted to take advantage of his position to land on his arm. 

"Shendu took them.", Tso answered simply and began to read his book again. 

"Shendu?", Hsi asked in disbelief. The fire demon had never liked to read books, and now he took almost an entire shelf. 

"Yes, he lately has been coming here searching for spell books.", Tso said and Hsi was thoughtful for a while. Spell books? What was Shendu up to? 

-/-/-

Hsi walked slowly to Shendu's room. The door was already a bit open and he opened it carefully. The room was a mess, there were books and parchments everywhere. Hsi Wu had to try hard not to trip over anything. 

Shendu was sleeping in his bed. Beside him there was a very thick book, and Hsi approached to take a look at it. He saw a picture of the twelve animals from the Chinese Zodiac, and the book had stories and legends about them. Beside him there was also a spell book. Hsi looked at it carefully. It was a transfer spell. He frowned. 'Transfer spell'? What did Shendu intend to do with that? And what did that have to do with the animals of the Chinese Zodiac? 

The fire demon looked like he was going to wake up and Hsi Wu found better to leave and ask Tso Lan what was happening. Surely he would know how to answer. 

-/-/-

Unfortunately for the sky demon, Tso Lan was busy talking to their father, who had just returned. Hsi saw they had serious expressions and decided not to interfere, but since he was curious, he hid in the corridor and watched them quietly. 

"...and remember to inform the others. I know everybody wanted to go back as soon as possible.", Yan Kwang said and Tso Lan nodded. 

"Very well, I'll inform them right now." 

Hsi Wu flinched as he saw his older brother approaching and backed away so that he could pretend he had just arrived. 

"Hsi Wu, have you heard what our father just said?", the moon demon asked when he saw him and Hsi shook his head. "I have good news for you. Our father finally decided to return to Hong Kong." 

Hsi Wu widened his eyes and didn't say anything. Return to Hong Kong? Now? Just now? 

"We're going back to Hong Kong???", Bai Tsa suddenly asked behind Hsi Wu, who turned to see her with Dhai Jiang. 

"Quite so. We will leave tomorrow.", Tso Lan said. 

"At last! Freedom! Isn't that great, Hsi? We'll be able to walk in our true forms the whole day again!", the water demon commemorated, but Hsi Wu clenched his fists a bit angry. "What's the matter, Hsi? Aren't you happy?", Bai Tsa asked confused. 

"Why are we going to return so soon?", Hsi Wu asked and the three demons stared at him. 

"Because the ambassador Takahashi Fujitaka was murdered last night, so our father doesn't have anything else to do here and-", Tso Lan answered but was interrupted by his youngest brother. 

"What??? Takahashi Fujitaka?? Isn't that Sakura's father??" 

"Yes, that's him." 

Hsi Wu was in silent completely shocked. Sakura's father had been murdered! Of course he had been always victim of attacks, since he was an important politician, but even so Hsi felt strange. How was Sakura feeling on this exact moment? 

Bai blinked and then smiled slyly, placing her hands on her hips. 

"Aha, I know why you are like that... It's because your girlfriend's father was murdered, isn't it?", she said amused and hugged him. "You pity her, don't you?", she said in a mocking tone and he pushed her away. 

"Leave me alone!", he demanded and ran off. 

"Hsi Wu!" 

"What's going on?", Po Kong asked entering the room with Xiao Fung, who was run over by the sky demon. 

They all stared at him in confusion. Tso Lan looked seriously at Bai Tsa and she frowned, crossing her arms. 

"What? I was just kidding!" 

"My sweet Bai-chan! You are so good to understand other ones' feelings! Who would suspect that your little brother had a human lover...?", Dhai Jiang praised hugging his fiancée, who froze and turned pale, then clenched her fist angry. 

"GET OOOOOOOOOOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

*PUNCH* 

-/-/-

Tso Lan gathered the rest of the demons to tell them that they were going to return to Hong Kong. Xiao Fung, Dai Gui and Shendu didn't look surprised but just smiled in victory. Bai Tsa slit her eyes in suspicion. 

"Don't you find strange that almost nothing remained from that Takahashi? I think it wasn't a human's fault...", she remarked facing her three brothers and Xiao Fung nodded smiling. 

"That's because it really wasn- Ouch!", he yelped when Dai elbowed him. 

"Then you are the ones who killed Takahashi?", Po Kong concluded. 

"Yes, quite so.", Xiao admitted after making sure that Dai and Shendu wouldn't do anything against him. 

"I suspected that.", Tso Lan said in a low voice. 

"How awful...", Liu Yue murmured, though she didn't look shocked at all. 

"Perfect! Now I'll be able to see my dear Bai-chan's homeland.", Dhai Jiang – with a black eye – said cheerfully and Bai Tsa's eyes glowed red. 

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!!!!", she demanded about to charge at him, but Tso Lan and Liu Yue managed to stop her. 

"Hey, 'Bai-chan' got all worked up...", Shendu murmured mocking and Xiao tried to suppress a laugh. 

"'Bai-chan'....!", he said and he, Shendu and Dai Gui burst into laughter. 

"Grrr!!!" Bai Tsa jumped on them to thrash them. 

Dhai Jiang sighed passionately. 

"She is so strong..." 

-/-/-

Sakura left the ryoukan and walked to a tree in front of a lake. She sighed sadly and leaned against the tree, flinching as she heard a sound of something heavy dropping. She looked at back scared and saw it was Hsi Wu who had fallen. 

"Hsi?" 

"H-Hi, Sakura...", he nervously said getting up. 

"Where were you?" 

"I-In... the tree..." 

"The tree?" She raised a brow. 

"Yeah, I wanted to... talk to you..." 

"All right." 

Hsi began to feel hot and completely unable to speak. Sakura noticed something and placed her hand in his forehead. 

"Are you ok, Hsi? You're all red.", she remarked and Hsi Wu pushed her away. 

"I'm fine!", he snapped holding firmly the girl's wrists and looking at her deeply in her eyes. That made him feel uneasy again and he looked away, letting her go and shook his head. "That's so useless.", he muttered to himself and she looked confused at him. 

"What?" 

He turned his back on her, staring at the horizon and clenching his fists in determination. After all, why was he so nervous? There was no reason to feel embarrassed in front of that mortal! 

"Listen, I came here only to say that tomorrow I will return to Hong Kong.", he said quickly and Sakura widened her eyes, then approached him. 

"So you came here to say good-bye?", she said and held his hand. "How nice of you. Thank you.", she said standing in front of him and they looked each other again. Hsi didn't know what to say and the girl approached her face of his. He already knew where this was going and frowned in annoyance. 

"No! Stop that!", he demanded making her release his hand and he held her shoulders to move her away. 

"That what?", she asked innocently and he slit his eyes. 

"Don't touch me! You do not have that right!", he hissed trying to keep his human disguise and pushed her away. He turned around and left running, while the girl could just stare at him in confusion. 

Sakura got up and heard a low laugh close to her, in the tree. 

"Who's there?" 

"Don't care, he's just way too shy...", Bai Tsa said stepping forward and revealing her human form. 

"You are... Hsi's sister?" 

Bai Tsa nodded and smirked. She didn't intend to harm her brother, but even so this might be fun. 

**To be continued...**


	11. Plans

I don't like this chapter very much. I'm probably aware of all its flaws, so you don't have to flame. 

But... I still thank you very much for the wonderful reviews!^^ 

**VampireNaomi** – I hope you like these changes too. The next chapter will be completely new as well, but at least I feel better now. 

**Forgotten Love** – So I got what I wanted: to write a drama/humor fic! That's kinda hard to do. After all, I'm working on two opposites. But I intend to turn this fic more serious and gloomier. So I'm sorry if some chapters are not funny at all. 

***** 

**Chapter 11: Plans**

Sakura frowned in suspicion. Bai Tsa had invited her to sit down in a dropped log in front of the lake to talk. Sakura had never known Hsi's siblings very well, but there were times when she could see some of them mocking him, or hitting him, or treating him like a slave, and some other nasty things. And one of those siblings was Bai Tsa. 

Bai Tsa watched her for a while and noted Sakura's expression. She then thought she had to make the girl trust her. She just had to reach this human's weak point. 

"I'm sorry for your father." , she suddenly said. Since Sakura wasn't looking at the woman, she didn't see how the other still smiled. 

"Sure you do...", Sakura muttered. 

"No, seriously." Bai Tsa placed her hand on her shoulder. "I know how you feel, because my mother also died when I had your age." 

Sakura relaxed a bit and finally dared to glance at Bai Tsa. 

"Is that true?" 

"Yes, and in that time I was very sad. But then you start to feel better." 

"Your mother also was caught betraying your father with a unknown man and then devoured and pillaged?", Sakura asked and Bai Tsa flinched. 

"Uh... no, I... I mean, she... Well, almost that!", Bai Tsa said nervously and Sakura raised a brow. "S-She was... uhn... beaten to death by a group of thieves.", Bai Tsa said and Sakura's expression saddened. 

"How awful, poor her..." 

"That's right...", Bai Tsa said with a tearful tone and wiping faked tears. "It was really horrible, they were really the death of her. You should have seen her state after that.", Bai Tsa added and unintentionally imagined a woman with her face all distorted, grinning and showing herself toothless. It was a funny scene and Bai Tsa tried to suppress a loud laughter, but failed. 

Sakura stared at her in confusion. 

"Uh... What's so funny?", Sakura asked slowly and Bai Tsa was still trying to control herself, mentally cursing herself for being ruining her own plan. 

"Hahaha, no- nothing... pfff- Ahahahahahaha!! It's just the emotion! When I'm sad, I start to laugh! Hohohohoho!!! You should have seen me in her funeral, I had a fit of laughter! Bwahahahaha!!!" 

Sakura slowly moved away from her and thought that Hsi Wu's sister was really strange. 

"Unh... I have to go-", Sakura said and Bai Tsa immediately stopped laughing and pulled her back by her hand. 

"Wait! Let's talk!" 

"What now?" 

Bai Tsa drew a deep breath finally calming down and considered what she would say. 

"Has Hsi already told you that we are going to return to Hong Kong?" 

Sakura nodded quietly. 

"You know, he must be very sad. Hsi just hates farewells, mainly of you, who have been such a good friend for him. He is very shy and usually doesn't make friends." 

"I didn't want to say good-bye either. I wished we could continue being friends, but I think we won't see each other even again.", Sakura said and lowered her head sadly. "And I think he will end up forgetting me..." 

Bai Tsa smirked and involved the girl's shoulder with her arm, approaching herself. 

"Can I suggest something, then?" 

-/-/-

Mei Liang was alone in her room, seated in her bed and keeping her belongings. Unlike the other fiancées, she was from Hong Kong, and going back to there was great. Especially because she believed that finally would be able to put her plan into practice. 

She heard the door opening and slowly turned around to see who has just entered. Shendu approached her, he was carrying three books and was in his human form, but his eyes still glowed red. 

"What's the matter? You look angry.", she remarked smiling sarcastically. 

"I _am_ angry! I cannot stand this despising human form anymore!" 

"Put up with it a bit more, soon we will be in Hong Kong. Have you taken the right books?" 

"Yes, they are here." 

"There were only two books. What is that third one for?" 

"It is a book that I found when Xiao Fung, Dai Gui and I were pillaging that Takahashi. It's all in Japanese, but I think I can get a dictionary." 

Mei Liang frowned. 

"So you changed your plans again?" 

"No, I am just increasing it." 

She turned around and continued keeping her things. 

"And what do I have to do, then?" 

"Nothing more, just that same thing. When I translate this book, we will know what we have to do next." 

-/-/-

"Ah, damn! I'm late!", Bai Tsa muttered to herself while walking hastily. 

"Late for what?", a voice asked behind her and Bai Tsa yelped in surprise, then turned to face Xiao Fung. 

"Xiao?", she asked and then frowned in annoyance. "Don't scare me like that!" 

"But it was you who scared me first.", he said cynically. 

"What do you mean?", she asked confused. 

"You know that our mother didn't die because of a group of thieves, don't you?", he asked and she snorted. 

"Of course I do, I am not stupid!" 

"Then why you said that she died that way?" 

"Because I had- Hey, were you spying on me?!" 

"Who? Me? No, I was just looking for you and I heard what you were saying by chance." 

"Hmph. It's just that I had to make that little girl believe that we both went through similar situations. Thus she would trust me more." 

Xiao Fung shrugged. 

"Anyway, it was lack of respect. When our father knows-" 

"HE WILL NOT KNOW THAT BECAUSE YOU WILL SHUT UP!!!!" 

"But-" 

"BUT WHAT?!?!?!" 

"Look at that!", Xiao said pointing at something behind his sister and she turned to see it. There was nothing special and she turned again just to see her brother at a certain distance already. 

"Ahahahahaha!! Got you!!", he mocked and Bai Tsa's eyes glowed red. She jumped on him and the spanking continued for some minutes. 

"You stupid nasty toad!!!", she shouted kicking and punching poor Xiao until a kind voice called her. 

"Bai..." 

"WHAT???????", she angrily asked turning around and froze as she saw Panatinaikos. 

"What are you doing?", he asked tilting his head in confusion and Bai Tsa still had to make an effort to come back from her shock state. 

"Uh..." She glanced at herself and at her brother, and saw she was still stepping on him. She yelped and immediately jumped away from him, smiling nervously. "Oh I... was just massaging my little brother! F-First... I did it in the traditional way... then I tried that Japanese massage that you have to step on the vict- I mean, the patient." 

"Ah, good job. I think he is very relaxed.", he said looking at Xiao, who was still in the ground. 

"Yes, hehehe, he is...", she said crossing her arms behind herself and forcing a smile. 

"Bai Tsa, I'd like to talk with you.", Pan said changing the subject and she blinked. 

"Now? Can't we talk later? I am in a hurry eight now." 

"Me too, that's why I was looking for you.", he said and held her hand. "Please, I promise it's going to be fast.", he pleaded and Bai Tsa sighed heavily. 

"All right! Let's go already, then.", she replied and he took her far away from Xiao. 

"It's that tomorrow I'll return to Greece." 

Bai Tsa blinked and then turned around. 

"All right, have a good trip.", she said coldly and he held her wrist. 

"Wait, I want to give you something!", he said quickly and then a thought for a while. "Actually, two things." 

The already impatient water demon saw that he would not leave her alone if she didn't hear everything he had to say. She rolled her eyes before turning again to face him and placed her hands on her hip. 

"And what is it, then?" 

The Greek took a bag that was close to a tree, in the ground, and that Bai Tsa hadn't even noticed. He returned with an object with the format of a board, wrapped with a white cloth. He removed the cloth and showed the picture of the Mount Olympus he had painted. 

"I want you to stay with this.", he said offering her the picture and Bai Tsa was a bit unsure about that. 

"Uh... I think not." 

"Please, stay with it." 

"I cannot accept, it was you who painted it, so-" 

"I insist." 

Bai Tsa sighed again and took the picture from his hands violently. 

"Ok, I stay with it!" 

He smiled grateful and she frowned. 

"And what is the second thing?", she asked curiously and he looked at her deeply in the eyes, then touched her face her face and carefully approached her head to his. He closed his eyes and left that his lips touched hers. Bai Tsa widened her eyes, initially shocked, but then angry. 

'How do you dare, you filthy human?!', she thought while feeling her right hand shaking in rage and in the next moment took that same hand to his face. 

Bai Tsa saw how the man's left face became red because of the slap she had just given, but he didn't seem to mind at all. She still looked confused at him and suddenly Panatinaikos knelt down in front of her, and held her hand again. 

"Bai, would you like to marry me?", he asked and the water demon's jaw dropped to the ground. "Bai Tsa, I love you since the first time I saw you! Eros chose you to be my lover and it is time for us to fulfill our destiny.", he said and Bai frowned, freeing her hand and snorting in despise. 

"You fool...", she muttered and turned to leave. 

"But Bai Tsa, am I not good enough for you?, he asked quickly standing up. 

"Do not make me laugh. You are just a bit better than most of my siblings. Besides, I do not intend to get married so early, I already have too many problems in that area." 

The man observed her slowly going away and clenched his fists in determination. 

"I promise I'll become better and a man worthy of you, Bai Tsa! I swear for Zeus!", he yelled and she just ignored him. After few minutes, she discreetly looked at back and saw he had already left. She looked at the picture in her hands and blushed when remembering the recent kiss. She then shook the head and glanced at the sun. 

"Ahh, I don't have much time!" 

-/-/-

"May I come in, father?", Po Kong asked opening the door of one of the rooms in the palace, where Yan Kwang was meditating. 

"Yes, come in, my daughter. I wanted to talk with you too.", he replied opening his eyes. Po Kong entered the room and closed the door, then sat down in front of him. 

"Yes?" 

"You can speak first.", Yan allowed and she still hesitated a little. She was sure that he actually wanted to tell her about a fiancé, like he had done to almost all her siblings. 

"It is that in the festival, I was talking to Takahashi's daughter and she said I could go to Japan when they returned to there. And you had already allowed me to go, I have been asking that for years..." She stopped speaking as observing her father's cold expression. 

'Oh my, I think he didn't like the idea...', she thought sweatdropping and he stood up, making her flinch. 

"Japan?", he asked calmly and she looked unsure at him. 

"Uh... Yes." 

"I know!", he exclaimed aloud and she yelped. 

"What?!" 

"I allow you to go to Japan, my daughter!" 

"You do?" 

"Yes, go and have a good time. In fact, I have a friend in Japan. He is a demon too and has a very big palace that will fit you." 

Suddenly, Po Kong regretted having talked about that. Her father was planning something and she knew it wasn't good. She feared she would end like Shendu or Bai Tsa. 

-/-/-

Bai Tsa laughed in a low voice while carried a relatively big axe, two bottles with a green liquid and a wood box, walking furtively for the corridors of the palace in her human form. She finally chose a room large, without furniture or decorations. 

'Perfect', she thought. 

She placed the box in the center of the room and climbed it. She opened one of the bottles and tried to reach the ceiling. 

"Hello, Bai!!!", Xiao suddenly greeted aloud and the water demon screamed in surprise, almost falling from the box and dropping the bottles. After recovering, she turned to face her younger brother, who had some scratches thanks to the recent beating. 

"Damn, Xiao! I already told you not to scare me like that!" 

"What are you doing?", he asked ignoring his sister's last remark. 

She smiled and placed her hands on her hip. 

"Just putting my brilliant plan into practice! It is today that I kill that disgusting lizard!" 

"Shendu?" 

"No! Dhai Jiang! I take care of Shendu later!" 

"Oh... And how does your plan work?" 

"First, I will 'glue' this axe in the ceiling with this potion. Then I will put this other potion in the ground, right below the axe. Then I will call Dhai Jiang here, and when he enters looking for me, he will end up stepping in the part with the potion, which will activate the potion in the ceiling and release the axe right in his head!!! Then he dies and I am free!!! Wahahahahahahahaha!!!!" 

"Yay, it sounds like a prank!!" 

"Yes, but I will be the only one laughing!! Hahahaha!!" 

"Aww, Bai Tsa... Do not be selfish, I want to see it too!" 

"Hm... All right, but only if you are quiet and not ruin everything!" 

"Ok, I promise!" 

**To be continued...**


	12. Dragons, Allies or Enemies?

Kagura: Levitation! Heat-beam eyes! What a wonderful birthday present! 

Xiao: Huh? But it is not Shendu's birthday yet! o.O 

Kagura: I know, it's mine! May, 25th! And I must say, Shendu knows how to choose presents! Now I have two talismans! Yay! 

Xiao: Did he just give them away like that? 

Kagura: Well... 

Shendu: -yelling from another room- Where are my talismans??? 

Kagura: Heheh... Don't tell him... yet! XD I'd like to thank those who reviewed. Your reviews are a great present too! 

**Forgotten Love** – Po Kong's fiancé shall be presented in the next chapter! Yay, thank you! I hope you like this one too! I think this version is turning much better than the previous! 

**VampireNaomi** – Oh, so good to know that I'm managing to write a drama/humor fic! It's really hard! o.O I'm so glad that you liked it! 

Xiao: Hey, Souma! I have a present for you! 

Kagura: Really? Oh, thank you! -takes the box and opens it- 

-FLASH- 

Kagura: AHH! My eyes!! My eyes!! . 

Xiao: XD 

-----

**Chapter 12: Dragons, Allies or Enemies?**

Hsi Wu watched from the other side of the room how his siblings and their fiancées did not stop reminding each other how good it would be when they were able to walk in their true forms once they were back to Hong Kong. Right now they were all in their human forms obviously against their will. 

The sky demon turned to the window and sighed. Something was bothering him. He still felt uneasy when thinking about Sakura, and yet could not stop doing it. He thought that after spending so much time with the girl, he should at least give her something to remind her of him. After all, Hsi Wu knew how forgetful mortals could be despite they had such a short lifetime. 

Unlike what Bai Tsa had said, Hsi Wu was one of the demons who made friends the most, and did not mind to spend some time with humans. Of course he never considered them as friends. It was a common practice of the demons to do that, because then they could analyze all the characteristics of the mortals and select the ones who would make the best slaves. Or just to have something to do and kill then later. 

However, Sakura was different. Hsi Wu had met her by chance in the south of China some months ago. In that time, his siblings were having a nerves fit because of their father's plan and everybody had better things to do than stay with the little brother. Then Hsi stayed Sakura, and gradually began to prefer her company. It was strange, they really got along, and Hsi Wu sincerely considered her as a friend. Sakura was his first human friend. 

Even so, he had not managed to say good-bye when they would never see each other again. Now that he thought about that, he felt stupid and regretted for not having done anything better for her. He had not even comforted her for the death of her father. 

But perhaps he still could repair that mistake? As soon as he had considered the possibility of giving her some object related to him. 

He then thought of something which he had almost forgotten. He rushed to out the room and went in another with several chests and closets. He opened a dusty dark green chest and looked for something until finding it. 

-=-=-=-=-=-

Bai Tsa ran to the room where Dhai Jiang was and had to suppress a smirk. Even though she envied him a little, he had courage enough to stay in his true form when Yan Kwang and Lehn Wuong were not close. Oh, well. Whatever, she did not mind. Soon the swamp demon would not have a form at all. 

"Dhai Jiang." 

"Yes, my love??" he asked, his eyes twinkling. The other demons did not seem to pay them any special attention. 

"Could you help me with something? There is a box very heavy and I cannot carry it." she said smiling happily and he hit his thorax proudly. 

"Sure, leave it to me. Where is that box?" 

"In that almost empty room in front of the tea room." 

"All right, I'll be there. Just let me keep some things here, ok?" 

"I'm going downstairs now, I'm in a hurry." 

"Ok." 

Bai Tsa left the room, finally allowing herself to smirk. Mei Liang stopped what she was doing and was thoughtful for a moment. 

"The room in front of the tea one...?" she repeated to herself and he looked at her. 

"Any problem?" 

"No, it's just that I forgot some kimonos there." 

-=-=-=-=-=-

Bai Tsa and Xiao Fung took advantage of their human forms to hide better. They hid behind a type of worktop that was in the back of the room and chuckled when heard Dhai Jiang approaching. 

"Yes... Freedom, finally..." Bai Tsa murmured. The door was opened and Dhai Jiang stepped in, glancing around himself. 

"Bai-chan? Are you here?" he asked and Mei Liang came in right after him. 

"And where are my kimonos?" she asked placing her hands on her hips and Dhai noted some boxes in the other side of the room. 

"They must be there. I bet that big box is the one that Bai-chan wants me to carry." he said and began to walk towards them, followed by Mei Liang. 

"Must be so." 

Xiao Fung looked unsure at his older sister. He understood that Bai intended to kill the lizard-demon, but Mei too? The water demon did not seem to care about it at all. Well, whatever. It would not be him who would have to explain to their father about two dead demons. 

'COME ON!' Bai Tsa thought eagerly. 

More four steps until he reached the middle of the room. 

'Hurry...!' 

Three... 

Two... 

One! 

The floor below him glowed green, but apparently Dhai Jiang did not notice it. Unlike Mei Liang, who stopped and looked at it. But it was too late, the ceiling potion was activated and released the huge axe onto the two demons. 

Xiao Fung widened his eyes and Bai Tsa smirked really evilly. 

About ten seconds later, when the brains of the four occupants of the room could process what was really going on, Xiao's expression turned into a shock one, but then a large grin that he could not hold back. Bai Tsa's smile died and she squeezed the nearest thing to her hand – which happened to be her younger brother's wrist. 

Dhai Jiang looked at his cut tail. The cut off part was jumping like Hsi Wu's would do and Mei Liang drew a deep breath when realized that an axe had fallen from the ceiling and almost killed her. Instead, it had cut her clothes and now she found herself almost naked in her human form. 

"KYAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed and tried to hide her parts with her arms and hands, and turned around to get out of the present males' sight. 

"Bai Tsa, you are hurting me!" Xiao shouted trying to free his wrist. 

"Damn!!!!!!" Bai Tsa yelled squeezing him even more tightly. 

"Weird..." Dhai Jiang commented in a low voice while observed his tail, apparently not noticing what was going on around him at all. 

"What happened???" Dai Gui's voice was heard along with most of the other demons' steps running alarmed to the room. When they opened the door, Mei Liang bumped into one of them, Shendu. 

The siblings stepped back in order not to be knocked over too and the dragon was smashed against the wall by his still panicked fiancée, falling to the ground. Soon Yan Kwang, Lehn Wuong, Po Kong and Liu Yue also arrived and were shocked with the scene. 

"What are you doing?!" Po Kong asked incredulous and Liu closed her eyes with her hands, blushing in embarrassment. 

"Shendu, what's the meaning of this?? I allow such thing only after the marriage, and preferably in a particular room!!" Yan shouted furiously and Shendu tried to push the female dragon away from him. 

"But... But... I don't-" he tried to explain and she took off his Chinese top clothes to cover herself with it. She ignored the strange stares she got and glared at the room. 

"Someone tried to kill us! There was an axe in the ceiling!" she stated pointing at inside the room, where Dhai Jiang stood still, looking at the ceiling. 

"Dhai Jiang, my son... Have you forgotten your lessons? You are not supposed to kill anyone unless you have a very good reason!" Lehn scolded and Dahi looked even more confused and innocent. 

"But I did not kill anyone, father..." he defended himself. 

"Xiao Fung?" Dai Gui said when entered the room and saw the wind demon alone behind a worktop. 

"It wasn't me! I swear!" he said and the others raised a brow in disbelief. 

"What's happening here?" Hsi Wu asked entering the room and before he could see Mei Liang's state, Liu Yue covered his eyes. 

"Do not look, Hsi! You are still too young to see such things." 

"Xiao Fung! Explain this now!" Yan demanded and Xiao gulped. At the moment he was angry at his sister because she had just abandoned him. But on the other hand, he could not betray her. He did not even need to do that... right? 

"Erh... It's just that..." he started and lowered his head to think. A silence took over the room and after almost one minute of hesitation, he looked at his father again and smiled cynically. "Would you believe if I said that I was behind the worktop looking for a Daruma when I saw Hermes running away from here after preparing a prank?" 

Silence. The demons just frowned in confusion at his answer. 

"Daruma? Hermes?" Dai Gui asked after some minutes. Xiao nodded. 

"Yes, Daruma is that Japanese charm. And Hermes is that Greek god-" 

"I know who he is." Yan interrupted. "What I want to know is what he would be doing here in China." 

The wind demon shrugged. 

"As I said, a prank." 

'Sorry, Hermes... but at least you won't be in much trouble with this...' 

-=-=-=-=-=-

Bai Tsa turned from water into her human form when she was at a safe distance from the palace. 

"Damn! That idiotic lizard cannot do anything right! He is so stupid that it ended up saving him!" 

"Bai Tsa-san." A young feminine voice called and the demon turned to face Sakura. 

"Oh, it's you." 

"It is time for me to go back to Japan. I came here to say good-bye to Hsi-kun like you told me to do. Oh, and my mother said that your sister is coming with us." 

Bai crossed her arms. 

"'Hsi-kun'...?" she repeated in thought and smiled. "Why don't you always call him that way?" 

"He told me he doesn't like it." Sakura answered and Bai snorted in amusement. 

"Yes, he does. Trust me." 

Sakura shrugged unsure. 

"Well, I have to go." 

"I'll go with you." 

-=-=-=-=-=-

After Xiao Fung had given an odd explanation about Hermes coming to China just to make pranks, all the demons continued preparing their trip. At least that was what Hsi Wu thought until seeing Mei Liang, Liu Yue and Po Kong in one of the rooms. The winged demon stopped at the door and watched them. It seemed to be a hara-kiri ritual... 

"Now you take the dagger and cut your left side..." Po instructed calmly. Mei Liang was knelt down, holding a Japanese dagger and aiming it at her chest. Liu stood right beside her. 

"Mei, don't do that." the pale demon pleaded, but Mei shook her head. 

"No, I cannot stand this shame for the rest of my life!" 

"But you were in your human form." 

"It doesn't matter, it is my body!" 

"Come on, there is no point in doing it." 

The demon of the dreams was about to the dagger in her chest, but Po interrupted her. 

"No, no! It's all wrong! I just said that you have to cut your left side, not the chest!" 

"But in the chest the death will be faster!" 

"Yes, but then you will not have you honor back." 

Mei sighed heavily and dropped the dagger. 

"What?" the older demon asked and Liu Yue sighed in relieve. Mei got up and turned to leave. 

"I almost forgot... I cannot die yet." 

Hsi Wu stepped back to give her place to leave, and Mei Liang turned to face him, placed one hand on her hip and pointed at his nose. 

"That never happened. It did not see anything." 

Hsi observed her walking away and snorted, crossing his arms. 

"I did not, anyways..." 

-=-=-=-=-=-

Shendu entered one of the rooms, where his father was talking to Po Kong, Sakura and Bai Tsa. 

"Ah, Shendu. Is everything ready?" Yan Kwang asked when noticing him. 

"Almost." He answered shortly and glanced at the Japanese girl beside his older sister. "What is happening?" 

"Oh, nothing. We were just confirming that your sister Po Kong is not going back with us, she is going to Japan." 

"What??" 

"Isn't it great?? I'll finally return!!" the mountain demon said excited and Bai Tsa smiled. 

"Do not forget to bring me a souvenir." 

"Sure. What do you want from there?" 

"Hmm... I don't know, perhaps a fine Japanese kimono or a painting." 

Shendu blinked twice and stood in front of Yan. 

"Father, may I go to Japan as well?" he asked eagerly and Yan did not think twice. 

"No." was his cold answer, causing a horrible and short silence in th room. 

"No?! But I _need_ to go!" 

Yan Kwang nodded and smiled. 

"No." 

Other silence. 

"But-" 

"What would you do in Japan?" his father asked looking coldly at him. "If you give me a good reason, I might allow you." 

Shendu stared at him for a while and then lowered his head speechless. The two sisters frowned in suspicion, but did not have to say anything, supposing that Yan was aware of the same thing. 

"Won't you talk? Then you may leave." 

The dragon hissed quietly and left the room under the tough looks from his relatives. When closing the door, he clenched his fists and his eyes glowed red. 

"Don't worry, we can find another way." Mei Liang said, revealing to be beside him, leaning on the wall. Shendu relaxed a bit and began to walk away. 

"Then we must hurry. We have to return to Hong Kong as soon as possible. We are wasting our time here." 

-=-=-=-=-=-

_Chaos. Destruction. Deaths. Definitively a war. A war that he had been planned since his children were born. However, Yan Kwang was not pleased with this. He did not know why, but something seemed to be wrong. As if this war wasn't the one he expected, but another, more tragic. A strange feeling was disturbing him. _

He looked around himself and saw something that attracted his attention. The other cadavers no longer mattered, because among them there was a demon. When approaching more, he noticed it was a dragon. Shendu? 

No. He resembled the fire demon but surely wasn't him. This one was a young dragon, who wasn't even adolescent yet. And surprisingly, a very powerful child. He could become stronger than Shendu, just a pity that he was in such bad conditions. His powerful chi was leaving his body, announcing his death. 

A scary scene. Yan Kwang rarely was scared, but now he felt like something really bad was about to happen. He could feel a strong energy somewhere. 

Then the little dragon got up. Yan flinched in surprise. He had not expected him to get up. Here was no doubt that he was strong. 

"Are you all right?" Yan asked and the child made a great effort to stand on his feet. 

"P-Please... Forgive... F-Forgive him... He did not know it would turn like this..." 

"He? Who?" 

Before the dragon could answer, he seemed to have noticed something behind the older one and widened his eyes alarmed. 

"Beware! Behind you!" he warned as if suddenly had recovered his strength and Yan Kwang turned around. A strong light and dazzled his eyes, and all he could see was a dark figure slowly approaching. 

... 

Yan Kwang opened his eyes. He was seated alone at the library. Like Tso Lan, he disliked the light and liked to meditate in the darkness. However, lately he has been having strange vision during these meditations. It was always the same, but more and more clear. With all his experience, he knew that these visions meant something. 

"Father." Tso Lan's cold and soft voice called from the door and Yan woke from his thoughts with a startle. Then took a deep breath and stared at the floor. His son immediately realized he was uneasy and stepped in. "Everything is ready." he announced and Yan nodded. 

"All right." He answered. 

"Did something happen?" 

"I had another vision." 

Tso Lan was in silence for an instant, to reflect. When he was going to say something, his father spoke again. 

"Today Shendu asked me to go to Japan." he remarked knowing that the moon demon would understand his words beyond their obvious meaning. 

"I shall keep an eye on him when we return to Hong Kong. But you know..." 

Yan raised his glance at him. 

"...just because he is a dragon, it does not mean he has something to do with your visions. Shendu does not even possess so much power." 

Yan looked away in though and stared at nothing. 

"We cannot be sure of that. I am sure about only one thing..." 

Tso Lan walked to the window to observe Shendu and Mei Liang seated side by side on a stone, talking quietly while watching Dai Gui and Xiao Fung arguing some meters away. 

"...A war is coming." Yan continued gloomily. 

"Yes, but now we have to know when and what the consequences of it." His son replied not looking away from the two dragons. 

**To be continued...**


	13. Back to Hong Kong

Once again, thank you very much to the reviewers! n.n 

**VampireNaomi** – Is that really so shocking? Well, she does take her honor seriously, but in her own... way. You'll soon know exactly what I mean. And no, that dragon wasn't Drago. Sorry. I'm still considering if I should include Drago in my fics, but... that would kind of ruin the plot. 

**Forgotten Love** – Just realized that I haven't updated this fic since my birthday! o.O Whoa, I'm getting really slow! Heh, I wish I could make a manga, but I can't draw very well. Ah, if I could... .:sighs:. Oh well, I hope you like this chapter as much as you liked the previous one. 

------

**Chapter 13: Back to Hong Kong**

The sky was blue and cloudless. It would be great to fly and enjoy it, but he had to travel with his family. 

Hsi Wu sighed. It was very frustrating to be part of this family. Being the youngest one, he could not do anything that made him look superior to his siblings or his father. He was sorry for not being able to go back to Hong Kong on his own, since he and Xiao Fung knew the weather would change soon. 

He felt a gentle touch on his shoulder and turned to see his friend Sakura. She was smiling cheerfully, but Hsi could see she was sad inside. Either because he was going away or because of her father's death. Perhaps even both things. He had to admire her for that. 

"Hsi-kun..."she started, making him flinch in annoyance. 

"I already told you not to call me that! It's so ridiculous!" he complained. She did not seem to care about his embarrassment, since she laughed and looked at someone behind him. Hsi Wu glanced back and frowned as he saw it was Bai Tsa there, smirking cynically at them. She then looked away and asked something to Tchang Zu. 

"I came here to say good-bye," the girl said, looking at him again. 

"You already did," he replied sharply, turning around. 

"But I forgot to tell you something," she explained quickly and he stopped. 

"And what is it?" he wanted to know. 

"Come," she said holding his hand and leading him next to a tree away from the palace. He crossed his arms, avoiding looking at her. "Hsi-kun, I am glad I met you. You are very mysterious, reserved and even a bit anti-social sometimes, but also a great person and a great friend. I hope we meet again someday. Do you still have the cherry blossom I gave you?" 

Hsi Wu nodded, blushing. "And that reminds me..." he said and took a necklace which had hung on his neck and offered it to Sakura. "I want you to keep this with you." She wore the necklace and examined it carefully. It had a symbol she had never seen before, a silver medallion with three horizontal black lines. 

"Thank you, Hsi-kun. It's beautiful." 

"Consider it a thanks present," he said before turning to go away. 

"Hsi-kun..." she called and he stopped again, not looking back. "_Kimi ga... suki. Daisuki yo._" she stated blushing and Hsi Wu sighed. He hated it when she spoke in Japanese! 

"Good-bye, Sakura," he said coldly and rather annoyed, and rushed to his siblings. 

-=-=-=-=-=-

"We better hurry. I want to arrive in Hong Kong before the storm," Yan Kwang said observing the horizon. 

"We are ready to leave, father," Tso Lan announced. His father nodded and he followed him until the group that was there ready to leave as well. 

"I wish you all a good trip," he said and glanced at Po Kong. "And I hope you do what I told you as soon as you get there," he reminded and she sighed. 

"Yes, father..." 

The youngest of the family approached while Sakura joined the group. Hsi poked his big sister's arm and she bent down so that he could whisper something in her ear. 

"Uhn... Sister Po..." he started a little uncertain and glancing around himself to make sure that nobody would hear him. "What does... 'kin ga suki' means?" 

"It means 'I love gold'," she answered, standing up again. "See you in few months, Hsi," she said and joined the Japanese group. The sky demon frowned in confusion. Sakura loved gold? What did have to do with him? Did she mean she preferred a gold necklace instead of the silver medallion? 

"Hsi Wu!" Bai Tsa's voice woke him up and he noted that everyone was ready to go. The bad-demon hurried to them, and glanced one more time to the group whose destination was Japan. Sakura was the only one who was looking at him, which made him blush again. She waved frenetically at him, and he ignored her, pretending he was not seeing her. 

-=-=-=-=-=-

After almost ten hours traveling, being forced to hear Xiao Fung ask 'Are we there yet?' each five minutes, Hsi Wu pressed his hands on his temples thinking he would go crazy. Seeing his youngest son's despair, his father even allowed him to continue the trip flying higher, but the atmosphere was too heavy for that. Just when he was finally able to take his human form. 

"Are we there yet?" Xiao asked again, making Hsi Wu flinch madly and try hard to keep his self-control. 

"No," they all answered at the same time, already losing their patience. 

"Father, pleas slow down," Tso Lan asked. 

"No, please..." Hsi Wu murmured, burying his face in his hands. 

"Why?" their father questioned and Tso pointed back. 

"Because Shendu is being left behind," he answered and the group stopped to look back and see Liu Yue some meters away from them and Shendu at a certain distance. Tso Lan's fiancée was quite breathless, while the dragon just looked a bit tired. 

"That idiot..." Bai Tsa snapped. 

"It must be the humidity of the air," Mei Liang guessed. 

"Tso Lan... I'm tired, let's rest for a moment..." Liu Yue pleaded as soon as she caught them up, almost collapsing. 

"Ah!" Dhai Jiang suddenly shouted, causing them to startle and look alarmed at him. 

"What? What is it?" they asked. 

"My tail is growing back!" he announced happily and they faced him in disbelief. 

"Darn it, Dhai! Don't scare us like that again!" Mai Liang snapped, crossing her arms. The swamp demon hugged his fiancée, who turned pale because of that. 

"My dear Bai-chan! It is the first time my tail grows so fast! The power of love really is amazing, don't you think?" 

When Dhai Jiang's tail regenerated completely, a green liquid was expelled in the process, making a puddle and splashing on the water demon. 

"Ack! How gross! Get away from me!" she shouted, pushing him towards Dai Gui. 

"Hey, get off!" 

"Sorry." 

"Why did you stop?" Shendu asked finally catching them up. 

"We were waiting for you, you idiot! Thanks to you, I had to go through... through... this!" she pointed angrily at the green liquid. 

"Well, it's not my fault! I don't remember of having asked you to wait for me!" 

"And do you think I wanted to wait for you?!" 

"Please, let's go away already!" Hsi Wu pleaded, covering his ears. 

"Quiet!" Yan Kwang demanded and everyone immediately was silent. He cleared his throat and continued his way. "Come on, we have to get there before the storm." 

... 

"Are we there yet?" Xiao asked five minutes later. 

"NO!" 

-=-=-=-=-=-

Finally in Hong Kong. Rain clouds were covering the sky and thunders could already be heard. All he inhabitants of the town bowed as the demons passed them. In the palace, some chi wizards were there to greet them. 

Hsi Wu barely could believe he was finally back. Although he did not have a real friend here, like Sakura, it felt great to be in his hometown again. Now he could stay in his true form whenever he pleased and fly freely, without having to worry if that would attract humans' attention. And it was also a good thing that Tchang Zu was not around. 

"Father! We're back!" Tchang Zu shouted from the hall, making Hsi Wu hiss angry. Never mind... 

He locked the door of his room and threw himself to his bed, staring at the ceiling. After half an hour, he finally got sick of it and got up. He hated to be arrested in the palace, there was absolutely nothing interesting to do. And the company of his siblings usually was not any better. Of course, he could always try again. 

-=-=-=-=-=-

The Japanese boat arrived at the port of a town. Hundreds of people were gathered there to greet the ones who had just arrived and some of them tried to comfort Sakura's mother. Po Kong did not pay them any attention. 

She was in her human form, wearing a simple green and yellow Japanese kimono. Her father had told her about a noble demon family and that she should find them as soon as she arrived in Japan. There was just one problem: she had no idea of where she could find them. And she doubted they even knew about her either. 

"Oh well... Pity, I think I'll just have to go on my own," she said cynically to herself. 

The trip had been long and tiresome, and she was starving. She saw a restaurant and headed to it. She took a glance around herself and saw nothing special. Nobody even bothered to look at her either, which made her frown. Despite her size, even in her human form she was not very attractive to human eyes. 

She remembered how Bai Tsa always attracted dazzled stares from the men and envious glares from the women. Her sister had been asked to marry men uncountable times, but she always refused. The water demon had no problem with having humans 'lovers', but she could never stand the idea of marrying one. She never said exactly why, but Po Kong believed she was afraid of being despised by her family for that. Many demons thought that serious relationships with humans were sign of weakness. Tchang Zu was the one who despised it the most. Of course, there was also the possibility that Bai Tsa did not want to marry them because she was not ready to give up her freedom. Besides, she did not love any of those men. 

Po Kong let out a long sigh. At least her sister kind of had a choice. She, on the other hand, was popular neither among the demons nor among men. She even had had some lovers, but very few of them. 

Then again, she and Bai Tsa were still relatively young. She did not have to worry about such things yet. 

After eating for about ten people, finally getting surprised stares from the humans in the restaurant, she decided to leave. However, when she was almost out, the owner of the restaurant called her. She turned around and he reminded her to pay the bill. The mountain found it a bit strange. She had even forgotten that nobody here knew her and she would really have to pay for the food she ate. Or just kill everyone so that they would leave her alone at once. 

Since she did not have nothing to use as a payment, she would have to choose the second option. That was a bit radical, though. She hesitated. She had just arrived and causing trouble might not be such a good idea, after all. 

"No problem," a voice calmly said from the back of the restaurant and all the glanced turned to a man who was as fat as her. His appearance was typically Japanese, his hair was short and black, and he was wearing a normal blue masculine kimono. He approached her, a friendly smile played on his face, and he looked at the owner of the establishment. "I'll pay or her." He drew a small bag from his kimono in his chest and threw it at the man, who grabbed it and widened his eyes when checking what was inside it. Po Kong tried to see what it was, but the new man involved her shoulders with his arm and leaded her to outside. 

"Listen," she started in an angry tone and removing his arm from her shoulders. "just because you helped me, it doesn't mean you can touch me like that!" 

"Hehe, you're right. Sorry," he apologized, standing in front of her. "I have a question for you." 

Po frowned. "A question?" she confirmed and shrugged. "Well, what is it?" 

"Is your name Po Kong?" 

She widened her eyes slightly, and then looked at him in confusion. 

"You know me?" 

"Your father sent me a message some days ago. He told me his older daughter would come very soon. I had the feeling it was you, because of your chi and... well, your chi," he said the last part nervously. 

"Then you are...?" 

"My name is Okasaka Yamaoh, the hill demon," he introduced himself, bowing. "Welcome to Japan. My family shall put you up. I hope you enjoy your stay here." And he smiled, lifting his glance. "I'm surprised, your father didn't tell me he had such a pretty daughter." 

For a moment, Po Kong could just stare at him, blushing more and more each second. Had he just actually praised her? 

She stuttered and smiled nervously, trying to say something, anything. She just managed to murmur words in Chinese that did not make sense at all. Nobody had _ever_ said she was pretty, everybody always called her ugly, and that comment of his had really gotten her by surprise. 

The mountain demon finally gave up trying to say something and decided to reply the praise with just a smile. He smiled back and turned around, gesturing at her to follow him. 

"Come, I shall introduce my family to you." 

-=-=-=-=-=-

As usual, Tso Lan was alone in the dark library, reading a book. Hsi Wu still took a while to get to see something after he closed the door. 

"Brother Tso..." 

"Yes?" 

"It's raining heavily out there and I have nothing to do." 

"Hsi Wu, I am very busy right now. We can talk later." 

The sky demon hissed angry, but did not say anything. He faced Tso Lan for a while and sighed. 

"All right..." he said and left the library. He went to the magic laboratory, where he found Xiao Fung, Shendu, Bai Tsa, Dhai Jiang and two old chi wizards. 

"Xiao Fung, don't touch that!" Bai Tsa warned, but it was too late. The toad-demon accidentally dropped a complex magic artifact and it broke in several pieces. His sister slapped her forehead in exasperation while the wizards stared hopelessly at the broken artifact. 

"Oops... Sorry..." 

"My sweet Bai-chan is so responsible and careful! That's why I love her so much!" Dhai Jiang commented to Shendu, who was reading a book quite concentrated. The dragon hissed dangerously, glaring daggers at the Indian demon. 

Hsi Wu rolled his eyes and approached Bai Tsa, who was stirring some potions. 

"What are you doing, Bai?" 

"I'm trying to make a potion which will turn any creature into an ant," she answered without even blink while mixed a green liquid with a red one. 

"And why do you want a potion like that?" Hsi questioned, frowning. Bai Tsa did not reply, just glanced at him then at Dhai Jiang before paying attention to her potion again. Hsi rolled his eyes again. 

"Oh..." he said, getting what she meant. Suddenly, his sister raised her glance again and widened her eyes. 

"Xiao Fung, no!" she shouted when seeing him dropping three more jars. He murmured another apology and she just shook her head. 

The sky demon sighed, approaching Shendu. The fire demon was even more concentrated on his reading then Bai Tsa on her potion. He also looked very annoyed and holding the book like he was about to tear it at any moment. 

Hsi looked carefully at the book his older brother was reading. It was that same book he had seen about the Chinese zodiac. 

"What are you doing, Shendu?" 

"It's not of your business!" Shendu snapped and Hsi backed away. 

"All right, you don't have to yell at me because of that..." 

Bai snorted amused. "Ignore him, Hsi. Shendu always gets on a bad mood when it's raining." 

"Shut up!" their brother hissed. 

"Hey, Bai Tsa," Xiao interrupted. "What does it do?" he asked watching a jar with a purple liquid and accidentally bumped into another jar with a brown powder, which was mixed with the purple liquid and caused a small explosion. The wind demon's face was all black and he blinked twice. 

Hsi Wu placed his hands on his head, leaving the room. 

"Why did I have to be born in this family?! Why?!" 

-=-=-=-=-=-

Dinner time. For everyone's relief, the food had been prepared for the actual cookers of the palace, not Mei Liang. They sat down to eat, each one with a different expression. Tchang Zu and Shii Nah just complained about how the Chinese food was not as tasty as the food they had eaten in the Amazon Land. Tso Lan and Liu Yue were quiet and cold as usual, their faces completely expressionless. Hsi Wu looked like he was about to fie of boredom. Dhai Jiang glanced at his surroundings, observing each detail of his new home. Bai Tsa looked icily at him. Xiao Fung was playing with his food by throwing it at Dai Gui and blaming Shendu. Soon the three demons started an argument while Mei watched them quietly. 

Yan Kwang and Lehn Wuong entered the dinner room and all the demons immediately were silent. They would not dare to disturb him with fights, especially when he was on a bad mood. They did not even know the reason, only Tso Lan did. 

"So, Lehn Wuong, Dhai Jiang..." Yan started. "What do you think about my real palace?" 

"It's absolutely magnificent. Much bigger than the temple where we lived in India, right, son?", Lehn replied. 

Dhai Jiang nodded anxiously. "Yes, sir. And I'm very lucky for having my beautiful fiancée Bai-chan guiding me and showing me the whole palace," the swamp demon answered, hugging Bai Tsa. With nobody noticing, he slipped his hand to the part below her abdomen, making her scream and jump on her feet almost knocking the table over. 

"What do you think you are doing, you filthy lizard?!" she asked blushing in embarrassment. 

"Just being the perfect fiancé for you, _Bai-chan_," Shendu answered her question in a mocking tone and smirking sarcastically, and Xiao Fung tried to suppress a laugh. The water demon replied to his provocation by throwing at him a bowl with _soba_, hitting his in the face. Xiao Fung could not contain himself and burst out laughing loudly. Shendu got mad at him and also threw one bowl with _soba_ at his brother and another at Bai Tsa. She tried to hit him again with another bowl, but he bent down and she ended up hitting Mei Liang, who joined the game and tried to do the same to Bai Tsa, but hit Shii Nah. 

"Food fight!" Tchang Zu shouted getting up and all of them began to throw food at one aonther. 

"Stop! All of you, stop that right now!" Yan Kwang ordered but was not heard. 

Among the confusion, Bai Tsa stopped and focused on Dhai Jiang, who was thinking that the 'food fight' was some sort of Chinese custom. She smirked evilly and quickly slithered to the laboratory. She returned with a bottle that contained the potion she had been preparing the whole day. 

"Now, it is the right time!" she stated to herself and threw the yellowish liquid at him. Unfortunately, Dhai Jiang was pushed by Shendu – who had been pushed by Dai Gui – and they two fell to the ground. That caused the potion to reach Yan Kwang instead. A magic explosion stopped the fight and everybody stared at it. 

Bai Tsa turned pale, her eyes widened. 

"Father...?" Xiao Fung asked looking at an ant on the table. All the demons could feel their father's chi coming from that ant, and they were sure it was really him. 

"Is it really you, father?" Tchang Zu confirmed in disbelief. 

"Bai Tsa... what have you done...?" Hsi Wu asked in shock. They surrounded the ant, watching how it 'punched' the air frenetically. 

"F-Father, I'm so sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry! It wasn't on purpose, I swear!" she apologized desperately. The ant looked even angrier and its eyes glowed red. 

"Bai Tsa... you are _so_ in trouble," Xiao Fung remarked to his sister with his usual unworried grin. 

**To be continued...**


	14. Illusion or Reality?

Olá, people! Many thanks to the reviewers! This chapter has a lot of blah, blah, blah... I hope you don't mind. 

**VampireNaomi** – Yes, there will be a romance between Po Kong and Yamaoh, but I still have to decide what I'll do with them after... that thing that will happen. Bai Tsa is not in danger in this chapter, but she will certainly have some trouble when her father turns back to normal. Thank you for the compliment about Dhai Jiang, he's one of the few original characters I like (maybe because of the Gary-Stu thing?). But I promise you I'll try to develop the other characters so that they won't annoy you. 

**Forgotten Love** – Hsi Wu with hentai behaviour? -grins- Yeah, you'll see some kind of hentai scenes with him after he sees some things. Yes, Bai Tsa is in a lot of trouble... but not now, because I'm really slow. When I realised, I had already written over 10 pages, so such a long scene had to be written for the next chapter. Thank you for the compliments! I'm really happy when you readers are pleased with my fics! 

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**Chapter 14: Illusion or Reality?**

That was all he needed. Now the only one of the family who Hsi Wu liked to spend the time with was too busy helping Bai Tsa to find out a potion to transform their father into a demon again. And since it was still raining, he could not leave the palace. 

As if that was not bad enough, Xiao Fung and Dai Gui were looking for him. Xiao wanted him to take part of another of his stupid pranks, and Dai swore he would kill him for throwing a bowl of _soba_ at him in the middle of the food fight. Hsi Wu had no option but hide somewhere in the palace. And so he did until he felt a deadly freezing touch on his shoulder. 

"Hsi Wu," a cold voce called. Hsi Wu winced and quickly turned around. 

"Liu?" He sighed. "Don't scare me like that." 

She smiled slightly. Hsi did not even know if she was mocking him or just being herself. 

"Tso Lan told me that you and your siblings are behind your lessons," she said. 

"I..." Hsi Wu had to think about it, looking away. 

"So he asked me to finish the meditation lesson," she interrupted him, grabbing his wrist. Her cold touch made as cold shivers go down his spine. 

"B-But... I-I..." he stuttered while she dragged him to the meditation room. 

"But it's funny, I couldn't find your siblings anywhere. Don't you find it odd?" she remarked not seeming to realise that they obviously were lucky enough to find out about the so-called lesson and managed to run away on time. Now Hsi Wu understood why he had not seen Xiao Fung and Dai Gui although they were supposed to be looking for him. 

"Yeah..." He sighed in defeat. 

------

_"Great, Bai Tsa... Now you did it..."_ the water demon thought bitterly to herself. She was not sure if she wanted to turn her father to normal. The consequences could be quite unhealthy. 

She felt a gentle touch on her shoulder. 

"Do not worry, Bai Tsa. We shall discover an antidote," Tso Lan said and frowned. "But I hope that has taught you something." 

Bai Tsa slit her glowing eyes. _"Well, it wasn't my fault. If Shendu hadn't-"_

A sudden and tight hug interrupted her thoughts. 

"Do not fear, my dear Bai-chan! I shall protect you no matter what!" Dhai Jiang hugged her even tighter, almost making his fiancée turn into water. She used all her remaining strength to move him away. 

"Dhai Jiang, don't disturb me when I plan my revenge," she whispered. 

"What did you say? Speak up," the swamp demon asked. Bai Tsa sighed heavily, slapping her forehead. 

"I said I'm thirsty. Why don't you go to the kitchen and bring me something to drink?" She shoved him to the door and pushed him out the room. He did not mind and tried to keep the door open while Bai Tsa was almost closing it at all. 

"No problem. Do you prefer water or tea or-" 

"Just go!" she cut him off, pushing the door harder to close it and get rid of him. Smiling in victory, she turned around and leaned against the door. 

"What a surprise. He's not only stupid, he's deaf too," the moon demon commented. He glanced at his sister and noticed that her eyes were sparkling with evilness. "What are you up to, Bai Tsa?" 

Bai Tsa glanced at him. "Me? Why do you think I would be up to something?" she said cynically, shrugging. Tso Lan narrowed his eyes in suspicion. 

"Does it have something to do with the revenge you have just mentioned?" 

"Huh? You heard it?" she asked a bit surprised, but quickly looked calm again. "All right, then. While you stay here and look for an antidote, I take care of him." 

"You want to try to kill Dhai Jiang again?" 

"Yes, but I'll do that later." 

Tso Lan eyed her as if he trying to believe he was wrong. 

"It doesn't involve Shendu, does it?" 

"Uhn..." She looked away. 

"It does," he answered for her, guessing it right. 

"Well..." 

Tso Lan put the book on the table and approached his younger sister. 

"Bai Tsa, promise me you will not kill Shendu." 

"Why is Shendu's life so valuable?" she questioned, this time facing him. 

"He's our brother." 

"Do you remember when he mocked you in the magic lessons?" 

"I-" 

"And when he burned all of your books? And when he ruined your library? And when he served you a soup that was too spicy? And when he broke all those valuable vases of yours? And when he pushed you into a volcanic lake? And when he made you trip and roll down a hill until fall into a bog?" She paused and smiled. "Enough?" 

"Do what you want," he said after a silent moment and turned around to read the book again. 

------

It had stopped raining. Hsi could feel that. He also could feel a huge and unbearable boredom in this meditation lesson. The pale female demon was seated right in front of him, her eyes closed. Even though she was very concentrated, she would notice if he tried to escape. 

Or at least that was what Hsi Wu thought until he heard what sounded a lot like a snore. He opened his eyes wide and watched Liu Yue. Her head was slightly tilted and her body was slowly falling back and forth. 

"Okay... That's strange," he whispered and leaned forward to examine her better. After making sure she really was sleeping, he nodded to himself. "Strange but convenient," he added, smiling in victory. He slowly stood up and sneaked away. 

------

The humans of the town had told him that there would soon be a presentation of Japanese artist. The group was called Oni, which attracted the fire demon's attention. A brief research made him sure that that was the group he was seeking. They would certainly be useful to him. 

He opened the door of his room and froze, widening his eyes and almost dropping the Japanese dictionary he was carrying. His fiancée was lying naked on his bed with only a fine sheet covering her. She was smiling at him as if she were calling him. 

"Mei Liang, what are you doing?!" he asked in disbelief. 

"Even thought the others have already seen me like this, it's you who I want. Be happy, you're the only one who has such a privilege." 

He frowned, staring at her like she was crazy. 

"What are you talking about?" he asked shaking his head and then pointed at outside. "Get out of my room right now, you depraved!" 

"Oh, that's right. I forgot you don't remember anything," she murmured sadly, not moving. Shendu stared at her again, trying to understand what she meant and failing miserably. Then, he finally gave up and shook his head in defeat. 

"Listen, I don't have time for your games. I have to prepare a locator spell and put the second part of my plan into practice." 

Mei Liang sighed, looking disappointed. 

"Then we won't have fun tonight, right?" she muttered, although the fire demon heard her. He raised a brow, watching her carefully. 

"Have we ever had fun together?" 

"Uhn..." 

"Never mind! Come on, we have no time to lose!" he finally shouted losing his patient and leaving the room after placing the dictionary in a shelf and taking a small magic book. His fiancée smirked and wore her Chinese dress before following him. 

------

Bai opened her eyes. At this moment, she was in a lake, _her_ lake. It was the only place where she could be alone, with nobody to disturb her. This lake was one of the most silent places she knew exactly because none of her siblings would dive until where she was. Here, she could think calmly. 

And she needed to think now. She did not have to kill only her fiancé, but her younger brother Shendu as well. All of her plans had failed so far, and she began to think that perhaps she should try something more serious, cleverer. 

However, no matter how much she tried, she could not think of any good plan. Reminding herself that the death of the fire demon could not seem to be her fault, Bai Tsa had to rule many possibilities out. The matter was getting more difficult each second. 

And then, the light reached her. 

No, she did not have any brilliant idea, but it had finally stopped raining and the sunshine could be seen again. Besides, this also meant that most of her brothers would leave the palace. Thus, they would not interfere. 

The water demon swam to the surface and looked around. She saw that the first one to leave was Hsi Wu, who seemed to be in a hurry. Right after him, Tchang Zu left with his fiancée and Dai Gui went underground. The next one was her most hated brother with his fiancée. Bai Tsa dove a bit more so that she still could watch him without being noticed. 

"Is that really right, Shendu?" Mei Liang asked. 

"We shall find out soon. According to the locator spell, it must not be very far away," the dragon answered. 

The couple moved away and Bai Tsa rose to continue seeing them. She got out of the lake after making sure they would not notice her and started at them for awhile. She was about to follow them when a voice stopped her. 

"Where are you going, sister Bai?" 

She turned to her youngest brother angry. 

"Hsi Wu? I thought you had gone to the town or were flying around," she said bitterly. The sky demon shrugged. 

"Yeah, but then I saw you spying on Shendu." 

"And what are you going to do, hmm? You cannot tell our father," she defied smiling confidently. 

"You're right. He already has a reason to kill you once he turns back to normal." 

Bai Tsa flinched and looked away. "So what are you doing here?" 

"I'm going after Shendu." 

Bai Tsa looked suspiciously at him. 

"Why?" She noted that her brother hesitated. He still seemed to consider if he should answer her or not. He shook his head and flew up few inches, turning towards the direction where Shendu and Mei Liang had gone to. 

"Nothing. Let's go." 

------

Almost everyone had left the palace. The only ones who were still here were the humans who worked for them and his fiancée. Tso Lan cursed under his breath while leafing through countless books and putting them aside as he did not find what he sought. Bai Tsa was the one who should be doing this, not him. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to let her go, after all. He could already imagine; in the following morning, the whole town would be commenting about the murder of Shendu. When Yan was back to normal, he would be furious enough to kill Bai Tsa and then kill Tso Lan for allowing her to kill Shendu. 

Tso Lan glanced at his father, who was looking very bored. Bai Tsa had asked him why Shendu's life was so valuable. Indeed, it was probably more important to Yan Kwang than any of his children's. He never told anyone why it was so important to him, though. Only Tso Lan knew it. 

There were many species of demons. In the past, those species rarely mixed with one another, giving rise to clans of 'pure-bloods'. And among them, the noblest one was the dragons' clan. Wise, fair, brave, powerful and strong, they considered almost divine creatures in the whole empire. Because of that, the other clans started to envy the dragons, and one day they teamed up to defy them. After a lasting battle, almost all the dragons and many other demons were killed. That historic episode was knows as The Demon's Great War. 

In order to avoid the extinction of their clans, the surviving demons found themselves forced to mix with rival clans, even with dragons. Despite the mix, there were still cases of pure-bloods – Tso Lan really hoped that he would find out why and how that happened someday – Both his father and his mother were descendents of dragons, but had not been born pure-bloods. When they married, they hoped that at least one of their children would be a dragon. After six attempts, they finally got it; Shendu was then the noblest of the family. 

Because of that belief in dragons' nobility, Shendu was the most spoiled. Obviously, his siblings were jealous and abused him whenever they had that opportunity. Tso Lan believed that the fire demon did not even know he was noble or why his siblings mistreated him, but he did not even care. All that the moon demon wished was knowledge and live alone, with nobody disturbing him. 

"Lord Tso Lan," a shy voice woke him from his thoughts and he turned to see a woman who worked in the palace. 

"Yes?" 

"There is this letter from Egypt," she said, handing a parchment over to him. 

"From Egypt?" he asked a bit curious. The woman left and Tso Lan started reading the parchment carefully. After some seconds, he read aloud a part that attracted his attention. "... _'I am glad that you accepted my proposal. My daughter is on the way.'_" 

Tso Lan lifted his glance and frowned slightly. 

"Daughter?" He looked to his father and noted that his demoniac eyes were glowing red. 

------

"This is where you live?" Po Kong asked to Yamaoh while observing in awe the huge palace. 

"Yes, it is. Isn't it beautiful?" He smiled. 

"Yes, but... it is very big as well," she commented. 

"Well, it's because the true forms of the members of my family require more space than most of the other demons." 

"My, what a coincidence. I need space too." 

"Really? Then your palace must be huge as well, right?" 

Po Kong frowned angry. "No, it's not. No one of my family is as big as I am and they don't care if I'm comfortable or not. I always have to shrink or stay in my human form, but that's tiring and annoying," she confessed and sighed. "All of my siblings always mock me because of that..." 

"Well, you don't have to worry, then. This is the perfect place for you," the hill demon stated, walking to the gate of the palace. Po Kong stared at him in surprise. 

_The perfect place..._

"Perhaps..." she whispered, though he did not seem to have heard her. 

"Just try not to step on the humans of our palace," he added and turned around as he noticed that she was still standing there. "Is something wrong?" 

She looked like she had just woken from a trance and shook her head. 

"No, no..." 

"Come on, it's almost dinner time." 

Po was immediately beside him, and then they entered through the gate. He took her to the other side of the palace, in the garden, where there were two demons who were a bit bigger than Po Kong in her true form. In fact, they were very like her. As soon as the couple noticed them, Yamaoh bowed and gestured at the mountain demon. 

"Father, mother, this is Po Kong, Yan Kwang's daughter." 

"Oh, I didn't think she would come so soon," Yamaoh's father remarked to his wife. 

"Po Kong, these are my father Iwaki and my mother Keiko," the hill demon introduced. 

"Ah, glad to meet you," Po politely said, bowing. 

"Say, Po. Are you hungry?" Keiko asked, making the mountain demon a bit surprised. They had just met each other and were already talking about food? It would seem she was going to like this family. 

------

Bai Tsa and Hsi Wu went into the woods. Their curiosity increased as they wondered what Shendu and Mei Liang would be doing in a place like this. Bai Tsa could not help getting some dirty thoughts about it, but the young and 'innocent' Hsi Wu could end up getting confused, and Bai Tsa did not want to explain to him about that sort of matter. Then again, she was not exactly interested in seeing Shendu and Mei Liang doing _that_. The water demon doubted that would be a pleasant sight. 

Fortunately, the two dragons did not intend to do that. They stopped and sought behind the trees and bushes as if they were looking for something lost. Bai Tsa told her youngest brother to be careful and the duo knelt down, hiding behind a bush. 

Mei Liang whispered something to Shendu, who thought for a short while and nodded. At the following moment, they took their human forms. Then they continued walking to a direction and Bai Tsa followed them. Hsi Wu went right after her a bit more carefully because of his wings, which could hit a branch and attract everyone's attention. 

The couple suddenly stopped again and Bai Tsa froze. For a moment, she thought that they had noticed her presence, but then realised that it was for another reason. When Hsi Wu caught her up, she gestured at him to be quiet and they knelt down again. 

They then noted that the duo was staring seriously at a rabbit. Shendu took a step forward and the rabbit looked ready to run off, but Mei Liang stopped him. 

"Leave it to me," she said in a low tone and knelt down. She smiled as friendly as she could and slowly approached the animal. "Come here, bunny. Come on, come with mummy." 

"Why are you talking like an idiot?" Shendu asked and Mei Liang glared at him. 

"That's the way I have to talk if I want it to trust me!" 

Bai Tsa and Hsi Wu frowned, they could not believe in what they were seeing. 

"I could never imagine Mei Liang and Shendu..." Hsi Wu paused and drew a deep breath before going on. "... being so... soft..." He could not contain himself and said almost yelling, "... to a rabbit!" 

"Shhh! They will hear you, you fool!" Bai Tsa hissed. Hsi Wu calmed down and watched how Shendu's fiancée approached the rabbit a bit more, almost touching it. 

"That's it, almost there..." Shendu murmured smiling in victory. Mei Liang smirked and finally grabbed the rabbit. 

"Got you!" she stated, but her sudden movement scared it and it managed to escape through her arms. The rabbit was extremely fast and the demons barely could see it. 

"I got it!" Shendu said hurrying to stand on its way, but it was useless because the rabbit ran under the fire demon's legs and ran away. 

"Bai Tsa, what's that?" Hsi Wu asked as he noticed that something was coming towards him. They both stood up and the water demon narrowed her eyes to try to see it. 

"I... I'm not sure, but I think it is a rabb-" Before she could finish her sentence, the rabbit ran into the sky demon, hitting him on the stomach and stunning him due to the strength accumulated by its speed. The rabbit, however, did not suffer anything and kept running, disappearing among the woods right away. "Hsi Wu, are you all right?" 

He did not answer, but just murmured something that Bai Tsa could not understand. He seemed to be a bit dizzy, but she did not care. 

"You!" two voices exclaimed in unison and Bai turned around. 

"Ah, I didn't know you were here," the water demon lied. 

Mei Liang noted Hsi Wu fallen on the ground. "What happened to him?" 

"Oh, I think he got distracted and flew into a tree. I better take him home, right?" Bai Tsa replied trying to make her youngest brother stand up. "Come on, Hsi." 

"Shouldn't you be making an antidote for our father, Bai Tsa?" Shendu questioned. 

"Uh... Yes, I was doing it. That's why I came here to take one of the essential ingredients." 

The dragons looked at each other then at her in suspicion. Bai Tsa tried to look as innocent as she could, but that did not seem to convince them. 

"If you are really saying the truth, Bai Tsa, then perhaps you don't mind if Mei Liang tests you," Shendu said, smirking sarcastically in a way that his sister did not like at all. He looked so confident that she had to glare at him in contempt and suspicion. 

"Test...?" she asked carefully, but he did not respond. Mei Liang's eyes began to glow and she approached Bai Tsa, who widened her eyes. 

That look... It was so uncomfortable and anguishing to stare at it... But even so, she somehow could not look away or blink. Bai Tsa felt her whole body getting heavy, her sight darkening and all the sounds disappearing. The only thing she still could see and hear was Mei Liang's glowing eyes and her demonic hiss. But now they seemed to be distant. 

After a while, she opened her eyes. She had no idea how long it had been that while; it could have been seconds or even an eternity. Or perhaps this was the feeling that the time has stopped. 

She saw blue. It was a limpid, purely blue sky. She also realised that she was lying on the grass. She sat up; she was not in the woods anymore and there was no one around. She glanced at herself; she was still in her human form, but her clothes were different. She was no longer wearing a Chinese dress, but a Greek, white dress with golden details. 

Bai Tsa had to smile, she loved Greek clothes. She got up and looked around, now more curious than confused. To her surprise, she saw the ocean some metres away. It was closer than it seemed to be and soon Bai Tsa was there, where she stood for a while, watching the horizon and the sea. 

She got even more curious when she paid more attention to the water and noticed that there was no reflection of the sun. She glanced at the ground around her and did not see her shadow. She glanced at the sky to look for the sun, but it was nowhere to be seen despite the daylight. 

"Bai Tsa," a voice called. She slowly turned around and widened her eyes a bit as she saw who was there with her. 

"Panatinaikos?" She took a step forward, but he stepped back. She then stopped, staring at him. "What are you doing here?" 

He shrugged. "I live here," he answered, smiling. But it was not his usual friendly smile, it was a smirk. "And you? What are you doing here?" 

"I... I don't know. I was in the woods in China until now..." She stopped and thought. "But I cannot remember what I was doing there. The last thing I remember is that I was trying to make an antidote for my father and..." She thought a bit more and finally seemed to remember. "Yes... Then I left to kill one of my brothers!" 

"Kill one of your brothers? Why would you do that?" he asked, softening his expression. 

Bai Tsa shrugged. "Well, because I hate him. I think I already told you about him. It's Shendu, remember?" 

"Indeed." He approached, not looking away. "I could help you to kill him, if you want me to." 

"Really?" Bai Tsa glanced at him up and down. The man's character was slightly different, but... his body... those eyes... 

The water demon looked away angry at herself. She was a demon and he was a human, she should control herself. She still had not forgotten how daring he had been and both his attitude and her own hurt her pride. 

She turned her back on him, now with only the blue horizon to stare at. She froze when she felt the human's strong arms embracing her and his thorax against her back. At first she tried to move him away, but could not resist. 

It was unbearable; her mind wanted to rip him apart for such insolence, but her body just did not obey her. 

"Tell me..." he started. "Did you go to those woods just to kill your brother?" 

"No..." she murmured, her breath getting difficult while she weakly struggled to break free, but it was in vain. She felt like her mind was slowly leaving her body. 

"Then what were you doing there?" he asked, leaning his chin on her shoulder. 

"I... I saw Shendu and his fiancée going to the woods and they seemed to be planning something... I cannot remember what happened later, I just remember that my youngest brother ended up run over by a super-fast rabbit..." she answered and finally seemed to have regained her conscience. Thus, she managed to push him away from her and turned around. 

Her sight began to darken again. That same strange feeling was coming back. Even so, she still could feel an evil look watching her. But she could not turn around, her body was too heavy. Then she heard distant voices that came from all the directions. 

_"I knew she was lying." _

"What are we going to do now?" 

"Do not worry, I know exactly what to do." 

And everything went black. 

... 

_"Bai Tsa..."_

The water demon tried to speak, but failed. 

_"Bai Tsa,"_ the voice called again, now a bit louder. _"Bai Tsa, wake up."_

"Tso Lan?" she managed to ask as she recognised the voice. 

"Yes, it's me." 

Bai opened her eyes and stared at her brother in confusion. 

"What happened?" she asked weakly like someone was still very sleepy. 

"Nothing, you just slept the whole day after leaving me alone in the potions room." 

"I did?" 

"But it was better that way. I reached the conclusion that it is not a good idea to kill him while our father is with us." 

"Kill who?" 

Tso Lan frowned. "Did something happen?" 

Bai Tsa blinked and sat up, noticing that she had been lying on her own bed. 

"I had a very odd dream..." she murmured more to herself than to her brother. Before he could say anything, she went on. "You told me I left you alone?" 

"Don't you remember? You asked me to make an antidote for our father?" 

"Ah, that's right!" she said almost shouting. "The antidote! I have to make it immediately or else my father will kill me!" 

"It's all right, I already found out the right potion." 

The water demon sighed in relieve and Tso Lan slit his eyes. 

"If I were you, I would not be so calm. He still will not be happy for having been transformed into an ant." 

His sister lowered her head. He sighed, realising that it was useless to scold her now. 

"Come on," he said, standing up. 

She stood up as well. The moon demon left the room and she followed him. It was night already and she could hear her brothers arguing in the whole palace. When she in one of the corridors, however, she saw Shendu and Mei Liang coming from the opposite direction. The duo was smirking evilly and Bai Tsa replied with a cold glare. Despite that, she felt strange when looking at them. As if she had forgotten something very important about them, but now she just could not remember it. 

**To be continued...**


	15. Fish Fight

I finally got some time to update something, and I present you another relatively long chapter. It's kind of filler, but these scenes just wouldn't get out of my head if I didn't write them. Anyway, I don't know when I'll be able to update again, so I'll now wish you all a Merry Christmas!

And, of course, a special thank you to all my reviewers! _Feliz Natal pra todos vocês!_

**VampireNaomi** – I'm glad you like Po Kong/Yamaoh. She really deserves more attention in fanfictions, even if that means I have to pair her with original characters. I'm not sure if you'll like the meaning of the letter from Egypt, but I'll try to make it interesting.

**Forgotten Love** – My, thank you very much. I wonder if you'll ever read this.

**I am the Pimp Lord Spleef** – Thanks! You're one of my favourite authors too, and the fact that you like my fics makes me really, really happy. Wah, I still have to read your updated fics! I wish I could visit this site at school.

**Notso Lan** – Okay, here's the continuation. Hope you like it.

**Dragolover1** – Nobody knows the order, we just guess. And there was a Japanese festival because Japanese people had gone to China just to commemorate the Tanabata with the Chinese people. Cultural exchange.

**Hellblaze** – Yes, this fic will explain a lot of things about Shendu. Hehe, even though I love him as well, I can't imagine myself as any character. It feels odd to me.

* * *

**–CHAPTER 15–  
_Fish Fight_**

It was already late in the night and everyone in the palace was sleeping, except for three demons. Shendu and Mei Liang had not returned yet, which made Hsi Wu very curious. If only he had not been run over by that rabbit, he could have found out what the two dragons were up to. No good could come from them.

The sky demon looked through the window, which was the highest in the palace, and paid attention to all the details of the landscape, trying to see the least sign that Shendu was coming back. Then, he at last saw movement in the woods; someone was leaving it and heading to the palace. Hsi narrowed his eyes and was sure that it was Shendu and his fiancée.

He quickly but silently flew downstairs and then to the hall of the palace. It did not take long until the door was opened very slowly and the couple carefully came in glancing around. Hsi Wu hid behind a pillar and watched them quietly.

"It's all right. I think they are all sleeping," Shendu whispered to his fiancée.

"It's about time. I thought we would never get to do it. And those siblings of yours almost ruined everything," Mei complained in the sane tone of voice.

"But now everything is fine. They won't bother us anymore."

"All right, now get that book already. We have to know where the next animal is."

They two left the hall and Hsi heard them going upstairs.

_'The next animal? Why would they be after animals now?'_ he wondered and followed them. As he got to the second floor, he noted that they had entered Shendu's room and one of them was leafing through a book.

Few minutes later, the door was completely opened and they left. Hsi Wu flew to a dark corner near the ceiling so that he would not be seen and the couple went downstairs again. Hsi stared at them in suspicion and tried to approach carefully, noticing that Shendu was holding something in his arms.

The two dragons left the palace and the sky demon went right after them. However, as soon as he opened the main gate as well, he could not locate them. He looked around, up and down, but they were nowhere to be seen. It was as if they had teleported, although Hsi knew pretty well that they did not have that ability.

Not believing he lost sight of them so fast, Hsi Wu flew up and sought the duo around the whole palace. He also flew over the woods and then a bit further on, almost reaching the town. After about half an hour, he gave up and went back to his room.

------

The breakfast in the following morning had a bit tense atmosphere. Tso Lan was looking seriously at Bai Tsa, who flinched and looked away towards Dhai Jiang. The lizard-demon winked at her whenever that happened and she looked away again, trying hard not to get mad. Hsi Wu discreetly watched Shendu and Mei Liang with a suspicious expression; he now wished more than ever he was older than the fire demon so that he could dare to ask him where they had gone last night. The two dragons looked just as suspiciously at Bai Tsa, though she did not notice that. Dai Gui looked like he was going to tear Xiao Fung apart at any moment, because the wind demon had chosen him to be the victim of the day and did not stop bothering him by throwing napkin balls at him or getting some of his breakfast when no one was looking.

Tchang Zu examined each one around him, trying to figure out what was wrong with everybody. They never ate quietly, in complete silence, especially when their father was not around. Xiao Fung might be an exception, but that never meant anything, anyway. He glanced at Shii Nah, who was beside him. She shrugged and continued eating.

Tso Lan got some of his breakfast with the chopsticks and placed it on the table so that his father, still in an ant form, could eat as well. Then, he shot another harsh glance at his younger sister.

Liu Yue watched the ant in curiosity. "So, Tso Lan, have you already found an antidote?" she asked to break the awkward silence.

"Yes. I already have almost all the ingredients. I believe our father will be back to normal today," the moon demon answered. Shendu glanced at Bai Tsa and smirked. Knowing exactly what he was thinking, she glared at him warningly.

There was another long while of silence. Liu Yue was about to say something when they suddenly heard a noise coming from upstairs, as if someone there were running against the wall and the floor. Everyone slowly looked at the ceiling. The noise continued as if its source, whatever it was, were moving through the corridor. Hsi Wu glanced at the rest of the demons, expecting that at least one of them would have a plausible explanation for that. Nobody said anything, but he could already tell that judging by the concerned looks of Shendu and Mei Liang, they were to blame.

"What's going on up there?" Lehn Wuong asked frowning.

"Erh... It must be the servants doing the cleaning. They are sort of... clumsy sometimes," Shendu answered rather uneasily.

"Are they cleaning the rooms or fighting one another?!"

Shendu and Mei Liang glanced at each other, but Tchang Zu spoke first, standing up.

"I will take care of that myself."

"No!" the two dragons shouted at the same time, making Tchang Zu stop and turn to stare at them in surprise.

"No?" he asked. The couple looked even more nervous.

"I mean, you don't have to be bothered by stupid mortals. We can take care of that," Mei Liang said. Shendu stood still and she elbowed him. "Right, Shendu?"

He startled and nodded. "Oh, yes... right..."

The both of them stood up and hurried upstairs under the confused stares of the other demons.

------

Hsi Wu flew into the second floor and leaned on the door of Shendu's room, where his brother and Mei were talking.

"I think it came after the rabbit. I just hope it didn't eat it," Mei Liang said.

"But how could it know that there was a rabbit here?"

"How should I know? That animal is not an ordinary one!"

The sky demon frowned and his gaze wandered in the corridor, noting several marks of scratches in the floor and in the walls. He had the feeling that he would soon find out Shendu's secret.

------

Bai Tsa went straight to her room, seriously considering the alternative of fleeing to a distant land, preferably a difficult to be found one, with much water. When Tso Lan made her father go back to normal, he would be furious enough to take his daughter to a not pleasant at all end.

She opened the door and yelped as she saw a tiger lying on her bed. It looked at her and its nostrils trembled, sniffing the air. It immediately got up and stared at the water demon as if she were meat. Bai then realised that the tiger should be thinking that she was some sort of fish and she stepped back, fumbling with her hand until she found the door.

The tiger prepared to attack and leapt towards her. Bai Tsa screamed and left the room, closing the door at the moment the tiger was almost catching her. Unfortunately, the door could not be locked and could be easily forced by a strong animal such as a tiger. Her only provisional option was leaning against the door to keep it closed. She knew the tiger could not kill her – she actually could kill it quite easily –, but there was something different about it.

"Tso Lan! Tso Lan, come here now!"

The tiger pushed the door and almost opened it. Bai Tsa tried harder to keep it closed. The fact that it was so strong made her considerably alarmed. It definitely was not an ordinary tiger.

"Tso Lan, there's a tig-- Aaargh!" she shouted when the animal used all its strength to force the door and the water demon fell to the floor. It tried to attack her, but she dodged and stood up, ready to fight back. She formed a water ball with her right hand and at the moment she was going to throw it, the tiger jumped onto her. She threw the water ball at it even so and the tiger's eyes glowed. The entire corridor was covered in a blinding light and she had to close her eyes. When she opened them again, the tiger was no longer there. The floor was covered in puddles and wet tracks of a feline towards the stairs, indicating that it had ran away.

------

Xiao Fung went upstairs as fast as he could. He had heard his sister's screams for Tso Lan, but the moon demon had gone to the woods to get the last ingredient for the antidote. Then, he himself went to see what was going on.

When he got to the second floor – which, he noted, was all covered in puddles –, he saw Bai Tsa apparently unconscious. He ran to lift her, shaking his sister to wake her up.

"Bai Tsa? Bai Tsa! What happened?"

The mermaid opened her eyes and glared at him in contempt.

"Get your filthy hands away from me, you worm!" she demanded, pushing him and getting up.

"Hey, I was just trying to help! I heard you screaming and I saw you lying on the floor, I thought you were injured!" the wind demon defended himself.

"And why would I be injured? Now get lost, I have more interesting things to do than looking at your ugly face," she said going past him with arrogance. He turned around and bent down in front of a puddle to see his reflection.

"Ugly face? I don't have an ugly face, do I?" he murmured, rubbing his cheek.

"No, of course not," said an unmistakable voice behind him. He slowly turned around and raised his brows as he saw Bai Tsa with her hands anxiously holding each other against her chest and her eyes shining in innocence. "I always found you so cute!" she said, smiling gently.

Xiao Fung got up and started oddly at her.

"Come on, stop mocking me."

The water demon looked really taken aback and shook her head vigorously.

"No, I'm telling you the truth. Toads are my favourite animals."

Xiao snorted, smiling. "And they say I am the joker here..." he said, shaking his head and going downstairs.

------

Hsi Wu rushed to the stairs but stood on the first floor, trying to see if there was someone on the second floor. There were wet tracks in most of the steps and Xiao Fung was coming down, seeming to be exceptionally in a bad mood.

"I heard Bai Tsa screaming! Is she all right?" the sky demon asked and his brother shrugged.

"She's great," he answered rather sharply and walked away. At that moment, Shendu, Dai Gui and Tchang Zu came running to join Hsi Wu.

"What is it? What happened?" the thunder demon asked.

"I'm not sure..." his youngest brother replied. When they were about to go upstairs, Bai Tsa went down very slowly, holding the banister as if fearing she would slip and fall.

"Oh, my dear brothers," she greeted, hurrying a bit to get closer to them.

"What happened? We heard you screaming and calling Tso Lan," Tchang Zu said.

"Is something wrong?" Dai Gui wanted to know.

"No, nothing's wrong. I'm fine," she answered smiling shyly and when approached the group, she held her hands eagerly and took a deep, emotional breath. "But thank you very much for worrying about me! That makes me so happy!"

"No, actually, we were just-" Tchang Zu started, being interrupted by his sister when her gaze landed on the fire demon. Xiao Fung, who had quitted going away few seconds ago, came back to stare at Bai Tsa as if she were crazy.

"Shendu! You came to see if I was all right too!" she stated cheerfully, running to hug him. The dragon was so surprised that he had no reaction for some while. "You are my favourite brother! I just _love_ dragons, did you know that?"

"What the... But... What do you think you are doing?!" Shendu yelled, pushing her away. Bai Tsa stared at him, looking very hurt.

"I-I... I... I was just..." She began to sob, her eyes being filled with tears. "... just showing my affection for you, brother. I know I... was never very fair to you, but now I want to... get closer to you, be a real sister."

Everyone stared open-mouthed at her. Xiao Fung began to open and close his mouth, trying to say something but not finding the words and apparently out of breath. Shendu looked at her as if she had a contagious, deadly disease, and stepped back.

"Are you insane?! We hate each other! What kind of joke is that?"

Bai Tsa sobbed even more and began to cry like a little human child.

"Y-You are... so mean, brother! I just wanted you to like me!" She cried louder and uncontrollably, covering her face with her hands and leaning lightly on the nearest shoulder – Hsi Wu's. The sky demon moved over when she spoke again, louder. "Nobody likes me! Nobody wants to be close to me, not even Xiao Fung!"

She ran off, still weeping. Her brothers just stood there puzzled for a while until Xiao Fung finally managed to speak.

"Wow... Bai Tsa saying she likes Shendu and crying like that can only mean that the end of life as we know it is approaching," he said, shaking his head. Hsi blinked and nodded.

"What's wrong with her, anyway?" Dai Gui asked.

"It must be... female concerns, I guess," Tchang Zu muttered.

------

Tso Lan entered the spells and potions room, where his father awaited him, and placed the ingredients on the table. He took the book with the recipe for the antidote and followed the instructions to prepare it. While doing it, he sometimes glanced at his father, who was really angry.

"Please, father, don't be too harsh on her. It was an accident," he appealed. The ant's eyes dangerously glowed red, but Tso Lan did not even flinch. "I know how you feel, but it is not her fault." He poured a purple liquid into the potion and frowned a bit. "Well, it is not _entirely_ her fault. Bai Tsa is just going through some difficulties, with the date of her wedding approaching, her performance in the lessons, and all the disagreements with our siblings. I can assure you that she is deeply sorry."

The potion was ready in few minutes. Tso Lan hoped that his father would consider his words, tore a piece of paper and dived it into the antidote. Then, he took it next to the ant and let some drops fall on the table. Yan Kwang drank them and in few seconds he grew up and took his old demon form. The table broke, but he leapt forward to land on his feet, which caused the floor to tremble.

"Where is she?" he asked, clenching his teeth. "Where is she?!" he asked again, this time aloud, making Tso Lan sure he was not going to be gentle to his daughter.

Tso sighed and Yan Kwang left the room like a mad demon.

"BAI TSAAAAAAA!"

------

Everyone in the palace heard the furious shouts and roars of Yan Kwang and immediately knew where this was going. While the humans ran for their lives, the demons stopped what they were doing and hurried to watch the scene.

Bai Tsa was found in one of the largest rooms in the palace, writing in the walls with a paintbrush some swear words and phrases like 'Yan Kwang is a loser', 'I support the Northern Barbarians' and 'This palace stinks', or drawing obscenities and caricatures of the members of her family, including Yan as an ant.

Tso Lan had thought it was impossible, but his father's fury just increased even more. Hsi Wu closed his eyes for a moment, unsure if he really wanted to see what was coming.

"Bai Tsa! What's the meaning of that?" Yan asked sharply. Bai Tsa dropped the paintbrush and looked at her father with a defiant expression.

"Are you blind or what? Don't you know what this means?" She pointed at a very grotesque and obscene drawing involving Yan Kwang and Lehn Wuong. He widened his eyes, not believing what he was seeing.

"How dare you do that?!" he thundered. The water demon, who was surprisingly the calmest one in the palace, placed her hands on her hips and smirked.

"What are you going to do, beat me? Go ahead. I bet you don't have courage enough to do that!" she challenged. All the demons at the door gasped.

"Don't doubt I do! You have no idea what I can do! I am not soft to my children like a pathetic human and you know that!"

"Oohh, I'm _trembling_!" she said in a mocking tone, shaking her hands and fingers in front of him.

He took a step forward, but she turned into water, which caused him to fall over, and materialised again near the other demons.

"Out of my way, you idiots!" she demanded, hitting Hsi Wu and Shendu in the stomach and quickly getting away. Her blows were very strong and the two demons fell to the floor, stunned. The others were so surprised that they had absolutely no reaction, until Yan Kwang stood up shouting angrily. They then thought they had better run away before the darkness demon decided to turn his anger to them. Shendu and Hsi Wu stood up a bit later still groaning in pain and left as fast as possible.

------

Bai Tsa was crying beside her lake, her head leaned on her tail. When the shouts got louder and angrier, she raised her head, wiping her tears away, and saw a blue creature slithering out the palace and towards her. When it came closer, Bai Tsa widened her eyes as she realised it was her other half.

"You...!" she murmured.

"You're still here? I think I told you to get away!" the other said in annoyance.

"But... But..."

"But... But..." she mocked her. "Stop whining! You are a demon sorceress! Have some pride!" She let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. "And to think that you were part of me. At least now I've got rid of you!"

"You are so mean! I bet you have been hurting the feelings of our brothers and our father!"

"Oh, yeah? Then why don't you go back there so that you can all cry together, hmm?" the Dark Bai Tsa provoked. She snorted in amusement and began to slither away, but the Light Bai Tsa got up and stood on her way to stop her.

"You're going nowhere until you tell them you're sorry."

The other smirked. "And who will make me do that?"

The Light Bai Tsa hesitated. "I-I will..."

"Hah! You? How, asking me _pretty please_?"

"Yes, please."

The Dark Bai Tsa laughed disdainfully and pushed her way past the other.

"Please... stop..." The Light Bai Tsa asked. When she was ignored again, she clenched her fists and her eyes glowed.

"Heh, so naïve..." the Dark Bai Tsa commented, but then heard a shout coming towards her and felt a punch hitting her back very lightly. "You will have to make better than that to stop me."

She tried to slither forward, but did not move. Her tail was being held by the Light Bai Tsa, who seemed to be more self-confident and determined.

"I won't let you go..."

"Let go of me, you idiot! Let go of me now!" She shook her tail, but her good half kept her balance very well and pulled her back.

"We're going back to the palace and you will apologise!"

"I won't do that!" she yelled impatiently and jumped onto her good side to punch her. Her opponent let go of her bad half to dodge the attack, but managed to turn her around to immobilise her again and pull her tentacles. They two fought for a while, the good Bai Tsa getting more and more aggressive, although the other was much stronger.

Their shouts attracted the attention of some of those who were in the palace; Hsi Wu was the first one, then it was Dhai Jiang, a mortal woman who worked there, Xiao Fung and finally Shendu and Mei Liang. The sky demon stood where he was, watching from his window in interest, though a bit surprised. The woman, scared, re-entered the palace very quickly. The others approached and as they saw two Bai Tsas fighting each other, they were back to the state of astonishment. Xiao even rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was not hallucinating.

"What's that? There are two Bai Tsas," he said. Dhai Jiang's eyes were filled with tears and he tried hard to contain himself in such excitement.

"This has to be some kind of wonderful dream! I couldn't be happier! Oh, my dear Bai, now our days and nights shall be better than ever..." He let fall a single tear and seemed to be daydreaming for some minutes. The others slowly looked at him, frowning, but then shook their heads and turned their attention back to the mermaids.

"Shendu! Do something!" Mei Liang demanded. The dragon snapped, glanced around and stood between his sisters.

"Stop that, you two! You must come with me!"

"But she hasn't apologised to you yet, little brother!" the Light Bai Tsa protested.

"It's all right, she can apologise later!" he replied, trying to prevent them from reaching each other.

"I won't apologise to him!" the other Bai Tsa hissed. Mei Liang helped Shendu separate them and they arrested them to the woods. Xiao Fung followed them with interest, seemingly finding it all very amusing. Dhai Jiang went after them few seconds later when he woke up, still smiling pleased.

Hsi Wu slit his eyes and cautiously flew after them.

------

When they walked into the woods, Hsi Wu landed and followed them on foot to avoid being seen, even though it was really uncomfortable to him and a bit difficult to walk among trees with his wings. At least he could listen to their conversation very clearly now.

"So, where are you taking us? What's there? Is it a surprise?" one of the Bai Tsas asked eagerly while the other just looked bored.

"Yes, it is," Shendu replied, impatient.

"Oh, I love surprises! I hope it's something to eat or warrior for us to kill or..." Xiao said.

"Perhaps it is a third Bai Tsa!" Dhai Jiang suggested emotionally. Hsi rolled his eyes and was sure that Shendu and Mei Liang did the same.

"That would make you happy, sweetheart?" the eager Bai Tsa asked.

"More than anything in the world!" her fiancé answered, looking like he was going to explode with joy.

"That's very good. I always liked so very much, and I want to please you in any way possible."

"Well, I don't!" the Dark Bai Tsa snapped.

Hsi Wu had to stop for an instant to jump over a pile of logs and branches and then hurried to catch the group up.

"Where are you taking us to, little brother?" Bai Tsa insisted. "Oh, I know! I recognise this place! It is where we used to play when we were little!" she said and all the other demons were immediately serious.

"What?" Mei Liang asked in disbelief.

"What are you talking about? We never did that!" Shendu hissed annoyed. The Dark Bai Tsa smirked maliciously.

"That's right. She meant the place where we used to play let's-look-for-the-stupid-little-dragon-and-torment-him."

"Hey, I never played that game!" Xiao said, angry.

"Neither did I. Is that game common here in China?" Dhai asked innocently. Shendu's eyes glowed in anger, but he forced himself not to snap at them.

"It's just a game we created," the Light Bai Tsa said. "I didn't like very much the part after we got to find Shendu, but until then it was all very fun," she explained and turned to the fire demon. "Aww, Shendu, you were so cute when you were a child! I think you don't remember because you were too young, but one day I took you to my room and made you wear some lovely Chinese dresses and then you got a make-up."

"Oh, I remember that!" the Dark Bai Tsa said, seemingly agreeing with her other half for the first time. Xiao Fung had a completely uncontrollable fit of laughter, so strong that he had to stop, kneel down and lean forward while pointing at Shendu.

When Hsi Wu pictured a baby Shendu with a make-up and wearing a Chinese dress, he covered his mouth and turned around, his face reddening as he tried hard to suppress a laugh almost as hysterical as Xiao Fung's. After some while, he finally managed to control himself and turned around again.

"Ow, I'm laughing so much it hurts! Bwahahahahahaha!" Xiao shouted, rolling over the ground with no strength left. Shendu's face was all red and his fists clenched, but he patiently waited until Xiao calmed down. The wind demon wiped a tear and tried to get up. "Okay, okay, I'm done..." he said and then suppressed another laugh. "No, I'm not! Bwahahahahahaha! He should be looking like a geisha! Huahahahahahahahaha!" Xiao frenetically punched the ground and the Dark Bai Tsa began to laugh as well. Dhai Jiang and the other Bai Tsa just watched them without understanding what was so funny.

"Stop laughing now!" Shendu demanded, getting angrier. "Stop it! I'm warning you!"

Since obviously neither of them obeyed him, the dragon charged at Xiao Fung, who was the most vulnerable and annoying. Even laughing to death, Xiao managed to defend himself a bit. Shendu strangled his brother to make him stop and even succeed, but the wind demon fought back. The Light Bai Tsa panicked while Dhai Jiang and the other water demon just stimulated the fight.

Suddenly, two beautiful and imposing tigers – one of them was very calm, the other was fiercer – appeared and the battle was interrupted.

"Oh, tigers," Xiao Fung murmured. Taking advantage of his distraction, Shendu whacked him in the head, making him fall unconscious. The Light Bai Tsa ran to hide behind the dragon, afraid of the tigers.

"Wow, they are so beautiful! They remind me of my tiger pet in the temple, in India. It always-- Gh" Dhai Jiang stopped talking when Mei Liang pressed a strategic point on his shoulder to make him fall unconscious as well. Hsi Wu widened his eyes and guessed he was about to find out something about the dragons' secret plan.

The couple pushed the two mermaids towards each other so that they would be together and then shoved them onto the tigers, which charged at her. Hsi had to close his eyes when a blinding light shone and when he opened them, he was surprised to see only one Bai Tsa and one tiger.

The sky demon quickly understood; that tiger was magic and should have the power to separate the Yin of an individual from the Yang. He had already read something about it in a book. But why would Shendu be doing with it?

"Amazing, isn't it?" said a cold voice behind him and Hsi startled before turning to see his wisest brother.

"Tso Lan? Did you see that?"

"Yes. A servant just told me about two Bai Tsas fighting outside the palace and I came to see it myself."

"I knew we couldn't trust them. They have been after magic animals all this time," Hsi Wu whispered, but Tso Lan gestured at him to be quiet and tried to see something behind him, where the group of demons had been.

"Where are they?"

Hsi Wu turned around and noticed that Shendu and Mei Liang had disappeared. Bai Tsa distractedly watched the tiger go away, apparently not noticing two unconscious demons next to her.

"Bai Tsa, where have they gone?" Tso asked louder so she would hear him. Bai Tsa glanced at him and around, then shrugged.

"I don't know... They were right here a moment ago."

Hsi flew next to his sister. "Do you remember what happened?"

"I think so..." She scratched her head a bit confused and stood up. "There is something wrong, brother! I think we should keep an eye on them. They may be plotting against us or our father!" she told Tso Lan.

"They are not foolish enough to do that. But their behaviour is indeed questionable. We must be very cautious and watch them carefully," the moon demon replied.

"Yes, but you're the one who should be careful now," Hsi Wu warned Bai Tsa. "When you go back to the palace, you will find our father very furious. Even now he must be devising the most painful way to punish you."

Bai Tsa flinched, considering if she really wanted to go back.

"Do not worry. We will try to explain what really happened to you," Tso Lan assured. "Perhaps he will even do something about Shendu and his fiancée as well."

**To be continued...**


	16. Another Murder Plan

– **CHAPTER 16 –  
**

_**Another Murder Plan**_

Yan Kwang was not a happy demon. Tso Lan and Hsi Wu, who were sitting opposite to him, could see he was fuming, his nostrils flaring. The sky demon couldn't help but shiver at the sight. He really pitied Bai Tsa now; she really wasn't so bad—at least not in comparison to Shendu, for example—for him to wish her such a cruel fate.

Next to him, Tso Lan was calm as usual. Hsi Wu didn't know if he should be relieved or worried about it. The moon demon rarely showed his emotions and made it hard to guess what he was thinking. However, it had been his idea to come and talk to Yan Kwang about Bai Tsa, and his youngest brother suspected he might actually have a plan.

The problem was that Tso Lan had a nearly infinite patience and was taking his time. If it weren't for the constant glow in his red eyes, Hsi Wu would have thought the moon demon had fallen asleep. He really hoped Tso Lan would realise how much his delay was irritating their already furious father and that he would say something very soon.

At last, Yan Kwang had had enough of it and decided to break the silence, "You said you wanted to talk to me, Tso Lan?" he asked frostily.

The moon demon nodded solemnly, unperturbed by his father's anger. "It is about Bai Tsa," he stated. When Yan frowned sternly, he briskly added, "There was a great misunderstanding yesterday."

"It's all Shendu's fault!" exclaimed Hsi Wu on impulse. The other two demons glared at him and he flinched. He hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"I have noticed that you always put all the blame on Shendu," Yan Kwang pointed out sharply.

Hsi Wu shrugged nonchalantly, avoiding his father's gaze. "It's because it _is_ always his fault."

"Father, please, listen to us," said Tso Lan softly. Yan Kwang was silent and stared at his wise son. "Actually, we have no proof that it was Shendu's fault. I myself believe everything was just a very unfortunate accident."

Hsi Wu looked at his brother in astonishment. Was Tso Lan defending Shendu? It was just so obvious that Shendu and his fiancée had been the ones who had caused all that mess, and Tso Lan _knew _it. And He had no reason to defend him. Or had he?

Nevertheless, the winged demon decided to keep quiet and pay closer attention to the conversation, hoping to figure out what his elder brother had in mind.

"Explain," snarled Yan Kwang.

"Very well. My most plausible theory is that Bai Tsa might have had an accident with a potion. You remember her working at the laboratory, do you not? She has been very nervous and, therefore, prone to accidents. It has happened before, more than once, so it would not be strange that it happened again now."

Yan Kwang nodded thoughtfully. Hsi Wu inconspicuously sighed in relief as he noted that his father looked much calmer. Tso Lan noticed the same and interpreted that as a sign for him to keep talking.

"I believe the potion involved affected her mind for a couple of hours. She really did not know what she was doing. I found her unconscious afterwards and brought her home, and when she woke up, she did not even remember what had happened. Brother Hsi Wu is a witness and can confirm that, can you not, Hsi Wu?"

The sky demon startled when he heard his brother addressing to him. He swallowed hard and nodded, trying to look as honest as possible. Unfortunately, he wasn't as good at acting as Tso Lan was when he was caught unawares and feared his father was still suspicious.

Whether he believed his sons or not, Yan Kwang kept his cold demeanour and nodded once again, seeming to consider the situation. Hsi Wu eventually remembered that Bai Tsa was still guilty for having turned their father into an ant. Even if he forgave her for what she had done while in her "modified personality" mode, she had no excuse for that _other_ misbehaviour.

"All right, then," said Yan Kwang softly. Hsi Wu tried not to look shocked at the sudden change in the older demon's mood.

"You forgive her?" he asked in disbelief.

"I do. This time. I know my daughter well and now that I think about it, I do not believe she would have dared challenge me like that in her right mind."

Hsi Wu swallowed his question about the ant incident, grateful that his father had apparently forgotten about it. He didn't even want to ponder over the fact that Yan Kwang still looked like he didn't quite believe what Tso Lan had just told him. What mattered was that Bai Tsa wasn't about to die.

"If I might change the subject, Father," said Tso Lan suddenly.

For a brief instant, Hsi Wu was alarmed, thinking that his brother would mention the ant incident, but then, his brain registered the "change the subject" part and he relaxed a bit. He expected Tso Lan to elaborate, but the floating demon merely drew a yellowish letter out of his robes and handed it over to his father.

"This letter recently arrived from Egypt. I would like to know what it means."

Yan Kwang raised an eyebrow as his eyes scanned the letter and he smirked amusedly.

"True, I had forgotten about this," he muttered to himself, then said aloud, "But I shall answer that question in the presence of all the others."

oOo

"DINNER TIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!"

All the demons, minus Tso Lan, immediately stopped whatever they were doing and rushed as fast as they could to the dining room, pushing and running over each other all the way. Hsi Wu was left behind after being thrown onto the floor by Xiao Fung and walked over by Tchang Zu. Well, it could have been worse; it could have been Po Kong instead of the thunder demon.

Bai Tsa, Xiao Fung and Mei Liang tried to enter the dining room at the same time and ended up jammed in the doorframe. The mermaid was about to turn into water to get away, but at that moment, Dai Gui grabbed his youngest brother, who happened to be flying past him at that exact instant, and threw him towards the three stuck demons at the door. All the four of them fell to the floor and were run over by the others, with the exception of Tso Lan, who just floated over them.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons why so many members of that family liked him.

Dhai Jiang pretended to trip over Mei Liang and fell melodramatically on top of Bai Tsa, taking advantage of this position to embrace and kiss her. The water demon screamed and struggled to push him away, but seemed to paralyse when the lizard-demon licked her face with his moist tongue. She paled visibly and twitched.

Meanwhile, the others were fighting each other to get the good places at the table. Tso Lan frowned and gave them all a reproachful glance, and then even scolded his fiancée for behaving like his wild siblings. Apparently, he failed to notice that Liu Yue had been accidentally elbowed in the head and was currently out cold on the table.

"Father! Dhai Jiang is molesting Bai Tsa again!" Tchang Zu shouted in order to be heard above all the yelling and sounds of breaking china.

"Hey, stop that, will you? I've told you to wait until you get married!" Yan Kwang scolded the couple by the door.

"Either way, you could at least have the decency to go to a room!" added Dhai Jiang's father.

Bai Tsa flushed and crawled away from underneath the lizard-demon, slapped him, and hurried to her seat at the table, trying her best to ignore her sniggering siblings. Dhai Jiang just smiled unperturbedly at his fiancée and actually had the nerve to sit next to her.

The dinner went on relatively peacefully, with no food fight or quarrelling for a change. Exclusive of Po Kong's absence and Tso Lan's exceptionally serious expression, everything seemed back to normal. As soon as they all were done eating, Yan Kwang gestured at them to stay in their places. All the demons stared at him, some curiously, others uninterestedly, and a few even impatiently and eager to leave.

Ironically following his own son's example, Yan Kwang took his time to start his speech. Eventually, he showed them the letter Tso Lan had given him.

"This letter is from Egypt, written by an old friend of mine who got in touch with me a while ago, and I told him about my single sons. We have already settled a new engagement and his daughter in on her way here. In fact, I guess she will arrive in a few days, perhaps even tomorrow."

Everyone was silent. Most weren't impressed at all, since that news made no difference in their lives. Hsi Wu, however, wore an extremely troubled expression. _He_ was one of the so far unengaged sons and could very well be the victim of the month.

At length, Xiao Fung plucked up courage and raised his hand. As well as Hsi Wu and Dai Gui, he looked worried for the very same reasons.

"M-may I ask if you have already decided which one of us will be her fiancé, Father?" he asked.

"Sure," Yan Kwang answered solemnly.

The both of them stared at each other for a while, until the wind demon finally realised what his father was doing and couldn't help rolling his eyes before asking, "Have you already decided which one of us will be her fiancé, Father?"

The demon lord smirked and his gaze oscillated between Hsi Wu, Dai Gui and Xiao Fung. Those three gulped and held their breaths, barely standing the suspense in which their father was _purposefully_ keeping them.

Mentally, Hsi Wy prayed to all of the gods in the world—except for the Egyptian ones—that he wasn't the chosen one. He was still too young, he needed more time! Why not Xiao Fung? That way, the wind demon would have someone to spend the whole day with, eating, dancing, singing, fighting, joking, annoying everyone else... Or Dai Gui, whose mood would certainly improve if he had some company for his trainings and excavations around the world. Anyone but Hsi Wu! The sky demon loved his freedom and would completely hate to be stuck with a demon who he didn't even know!

_Please... anyone but me!_ he mentally begged.

Yan Kwang fixed his gaze on his youngest son, which caused him to pale. He already could almost hear his father announcing his engagement with the Egyptian demon.

Then, one second later, Yan Kwang was looking at the earth demon and saying, "Yes, I chose my son Dai Gui."

Hsi Wu and Xiao Fung couldn't hold back heavy sighs of deep relief. They were so glad they hadn't been chosen that they almost laughed and hugged each other. Dai Gui, on the other hand, was not pleased at all with the news. He sat still like a statue for a good while, his eyes wide.

"B-but... why Dai Gui?" he asked tensely.

"Well, she is the sand demon, so I thought her element matched yours the best," his father answered.

"Yeah, better luck next time, Dai-Dai," said Xiao Fing jokingly, tapping his brother's arm as if to comfort him.

"Indeed, I will be very lucky next time, _Brother_," whispered the earth demon meaningfully, his eyes glowing dangerously.

"By the way, what is her name, Father?" Xiao Fung asked, already back to his unworried, usual self.

Yan kwang cleared his throat twice, and then one more time. For a moment, Hsi Wu wondered if his father had lost his voice or was choking.

"Her name is Khedebneithireretbeneret."

"Bless you," said the others in unison. Yan looked annoyed.

"No! That's her name! Khedebneithireretbeneret."

"Khed who?" said Tchang Zu.

"Khednerebtnekikek..." replied his fiancée.

"No, it's Khedrebnetkeneret," Bai Tsa corrected her.

"No, I think it's Khedbneritheretbeb," said Shendu.

"I am almost sure it ended in 'neret'," said Tso Lan.

"No, no, I think it ended in 'renet'," said Mei Liang.

The demons spent the following minutes trying to speak the sand demon's name. In the end, the name had already been so mangled that it was completely different from what Yan Kwang had said.

"Now I know; Khedbebigvetjetpelemnemisetneret!" exclaimed Xiao Fung triumphantly.

"Xiao, you're speaking gibberish," commented Shendu dryly.

"That is ridiculous! Dai Gui will not marry someone who has a name no one can pronounce!" protested the earth demon.

"We could call her Khed," suggested Hsi Wu. As usual, no one paid him any attention.

oOo

Meditation was a very good habit. It was healthy and helped relax one's body and mind. It was very useful when an intellectual wanted to preserve his sanity in the Demonic Family. Tso Lan used to meditate regularly: right after waking up, before meals, after meals, before going to bed and in his spare time generally.

Throughout his childhood, he had tried to convince his siblings to do the same, but they had quickly got bored and gone back to their fights. Not that the moon demon had minded it much, because they could never be quiet for longer than five minutes and had constantly disturbed his concentration.

Nowadays, he normally had no problems in his meditation time; his siblings would usually leave the palace and him alone. However, the current circumstances made his activities considerably difficult. It wasn't easy to concentrate when a massive demon was hanging on his robes and begging him, "Tso Lan, my brother, you must help Dai Gui!"

The moon demon let out an exasperated sigh. "Dai Gui, could you please let go of me? You will end up tearing my robes, and I hardly think you would enjoy the sight."

"Tso Lan, help Dai Gui!" continued the earth demon, not listening to what his brother was saying.

"Dai Gui, keep it together! Have you no dignity?" snapped Tso Lan.

Dai Gui reluctantly let go of his brother's creased robes and stood up, though he still looked panicky. "What should Dai Gui do? Dai Gui does not want to marry a demon of unpronounceable name!"

"Calm down, Brother, I will help you."

A rare twinkle of gratitude blinked in the usually cold and proud earth demon's eyes. Tso Lan ignored him and pondered, analysing each aspect of the situation, organising his thoughts, and considering their options.

"I have an idea. But we will need help from someone else also," he said carefully.

Dai Gui nodded vigorously. He wouldn't dream of questioning the moon demon, who was so much more intelligent and wise and was never wrong. Any plan he had in mind would do.

Tso Lan watched him calculatingly for some moments.

"Bring Hsi Wu here."

oOo

In a dark room of the palace, the door safely locked, Tso Lan, Dai Gui and Hsi Wu were gathered together in a circle, whispering in conspiratorial tones. Tso Lan began telling his brothers about his plan to help Dai Gui.

"This is the simplest and most practical plan I could come up with so far," he said. When the other two just nodded, he went on, "We shall murder Dai Gui's fiancée."

This time, his brothers looked slightly uneasy and exchanged unsure glances.

"But Bai Tsa has never managed to kill her fiancé," Hsi Wu pointed out.

"Yes, but _we_ will get ourselves organised. We just have to kill her before she gets here. She will never know what hit her."

"And how are we supposed to do it?" Dai Gui asked him.

"Firstly, we have to locate her. And that is your part in the plan, Hsi Wu. You must fly over the rote between China and Egypt until you spot her. It shouldn't be difficult to recognise her; she will probably have an Egyptian escort, and that is not something you see everyday in China."

"HULLO!" shouted a cheerful voice behind Hsi Wu, who yelped jumped in surprise and did not land back on the floor. When he turned around and saw Xiao Fing grinning at them, the sky demon sighed heavily and landed.

"Brother Xiao, do not scare us like that!" he hissed.

"How did you get in here, anyway?" Dai Gui asked the wind demon.

"Through the window," Xiao Fung answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, pointing at the open window on the other side of the room. "I guess you were too distracted to hear me coming in."

Tso Lan frowned at Dai Gui. "I told you to close the windows!"

"Dai Gui did, but we cannot _lock_ the windows in this palace!" the earth demon defended himself.

Hsi Wu rolled his eyes. "Whatever. At least it was just Brother Xiao."

The wind demon huffed in indignation and looked hurt, but almost immediately went back to grinning like an idiot as he turned to his elder brother.

"So, what are you doing here, all hidden? Is it some prank? Or perhaps you are plotting against someone?"

"The latter," his youngest brother answered.

"That sounds like fun!" Xiao's grin, if possible, got larger and he hurried to join the circle. "Can I come too? Please, pretty please?"

The other three glanced at each other. Hsi Wu shrugged. "Well, I don't see why not..."

"As long as he doesn't ruin our plan," snarled Dai Gui.

The four of them leaned closer as Tso Lan proceeded to explain his plan.

oOo

This was a happy night for Bai Tsa. It seemed that Tso Lan and Hsi Wu had gone to talk to their father about her strange behaviour and Yan Kwang had miraculously forgiven her! It was so good to know that she was not going to die... She was so happy that she hadn't even killed, tortured, taunted or even snapped at any human since then.

She was now indebted to Tso Lan, though. It was most unlikely that the moon demon would ever need to have his life saved by anyone, but she would find a way to recompense him. Starting with a little thank-you present: a painting. As soon as the dinner was over, she waited until each member of the family had gone to their own places to mind their own business, hid in a chest to throw Dhai Jiang off the scent, and rushed to the Arts Room, where she got everything she needed to paint.

First, she had to decide what she would be painting for him. What did the moon demon like? The most obvious answer seemed to be the moon. On the other hand, the mermaid found it so sterile, greyish and dull that she simply refused to paint it. She didn't expect him to like anything too colourful and happy, but there should be something more beautiful and original.

Unless she painted the moon from one's point of view on Earth. A natural landscape, preferably. Considering her brother's gloominess, she thought a dark and confusing scenery would fit his personality perfectly. Something almost surreal, with a partially destroyed background and a huge and shiny moon covering almost the whole sky.

Yes, that would be brilliant.

Bai Tsa loved painting. It was relaxing and a way to express herself. It required concentration and care, which was why she always did it alone. It was almost like a sacred moment, away from her irksome family. She painted since she was little and did not yet consider herself a perfect artist, though she was easily superior to any human. She tried to improve with each work and sometimes asked Po Kong's or Tso Lan's opinion, for they were two of the few who had any interest in art.

That was one of the reasons why she dreamed of going to Greece. The Greek people valued art very much and nature there was said to be beautiful, which positively would give her inspiration. Perhaps she could even meet other artists, demons or humans... like Panatinaikos.

Blushing slightly, she shook her head angrily. Why had she thought of that man again? He was just a pathetic human! It didn't matter that he was an attractive, athletic, fun and _Greek_ artist and that he had asked for her hand in marriage after telling her he loved her. As if a human could ever love a demon...

She glanced at the painting of Mt. Olympus that he had insisted on giving her as a farewell present. She still remembered how that man had dared kiss her then. Just thinking about it made her sick.

"That idiot..." she muttered, trying to ignore the little voice in the back of her mind that told her she was just lying to herself. "He doesn't mean anything to me, he is just a pathetic, worthless human," she said firmly. The voice shut up and Bai Tsa smirked, pleased.

While she chose the right colours for her painting, she had the odd feeling she was being watched. She furtively glanced to her sides, without turning much of her attention away from her work. When she didn't see anyone around, she concentrated again on the painting.

Suddenly, a shadow slowly covered it. Before Bai Tsa could even move, something grabbed her from behind and made her lose her balance. The following instant, she was lying on the floor, immobilised, and trying to get her face away from a green, scaly hand which was caressing her tenderly.

"My sweet, sweet Bai Tsa... so beautiful, so talented..." murmured Dhai Jiang.

Infuriated, Bai Tsa turned into water to escape from the swamp demon's disgusting embrace and took her true form some metres away from him.

"Dhai Jiang! How did you get in here? I made sure the door was locked!"

The lizard picked himself up off the floor and grinned at her in a way that could rival with Xiao Fung. "I have my methods, my darling."

"How did you get in here!" she bellowed, losing her nerves. It was bad enough that someone had disturbed her in her moment of peace and concentration, but Dhai Jiang being that someone of all people and demons just made it all worse.

"Why, my seaweed, I came through the window," he responded, pointing at said ajar window.

Bai Tsa slowly turned to see it and mentally slapped herself. She had forgotten the windows in this castle could not be locked, just magically sealed. She had never cared much about that detail, since she was on the second floor and only Tso Lan and Hsi Wu could reach that window if they wanted to. Only that they never did.

How had Dhai Jiang reached that window if he could not fly, anyway?

Looking at the lizard-demon's hands, she guessed he had climbed the walls, like a gecko. She remembered the times when he had touched her with those sticky fingers of his, which caused her to shudder. She shifted her gaze from Dhai Jiang—so that she would not think about the fingers anymore and get sick—to her painting which, she noted, was covered in stains and had dropped to the floor. Her eyes widened and glowed furiously.

"My painting! You ruined it!"

Dhai Jiang looked at it innocently and narrowed his eyes in thought. "Painting still life, my seashell? A pretty artist such as yourself should not waste your colossal talent with something so tedious. But don't worry, I have an idea!" He dropped all the objects from a table on the other side of the room and threw himself over it. "You can paint _me_, dear Bai!" he said, exaggeratedly posing to her.

Bai Tsa's hands twitched to throttle the swamp demon, to perforate those reptilian eyes, to tear that irritating grin off his ugly face.

"Get out of here!" she ordered through clenched teeth. "Get out before I—"

"But if I leave, how are you going to paint me, my little seafood?"

She screamed in frustration and pulled her own tentacles.

"You look upset, honey," remarked Dhai Jiang in the same innocent tone Xiao Fung might have used in a situation like this. Only that the wind demon usually did it on purpose and Bai Tsa had grown accustomed to him. Her fiancé, on the other hand, was just really dense. "Say, is it true that one must suffer for art?"

The mermaid closed her eyes. "Why me? _Why_ me?"

"Oh, now we are going into philosophy. I love philosophy, you know. I once met a Greek philosopher—"

"Don't you dare talk about the Greek!" she shouted, pointing her finger at him. "I do not want any word about the Greek culture escaping your filthy lips!"

"My lips are not filthy!" protested Dhai Jiang, looking hurt. "I clean them everyday. See?" He licked his "lips" with his moist tongue, reminding Bai Tsa of what he had done to her before dinner that night. The mermaid's face contorted in disgust and anger.

The swamp demon tilted his head while watching his fiancée. All of a sudden, he leapt from the table to land right before Bai Tsa. "Oh, my blue fish, you are so gorgeous when you are upset. But you are even more beautiful when you smile. Come here, I shall make your night much more special and happy."

Before she could react properly, the mermaid found herself once more in the scaly arms of her fiancé. As she noted that fanatical twinkle in his eyes and that gross tongue approaching for a wet kiss, Bai Tsa gathered all her strength in her right fist and attempted to punch him, getting to hit him in the eye.

While Dhai Jiang collapsed backwards, she turned into water again and went through the crack under the door. Outside the room, she took her true form and slithered away as fast as possible, barely paying attention to where she was going. It simply didn't matter where she was going, as long as it was far away from Dhai Jiang.

At last, she reached the first floor, randomly chose a door, and took her liquid form to go through the crack under the door again. Luckily, this room was very dark, which made it an excellent hiding place. Bai Tsa allowed herself to relax, but then, she heard a thump a few metres away and was alarmed again.

"Hey!" exclaimed a voice that she recognised as Xiao Fung's.

"Bai Tsa? What are you doing here?" asked another brother of hers, Tso Lan. Narrowing her eyes to try seeing in the darkness, the water demon noticed that Dai Gui and Hsi Wu were there as well.

"I am the one who asks what _you_ four are doing here in the dark!" she snapped, being in a bad mood due to her fiancé's harassment.

Her four brothers glanced at each other.

"It is not what it seems," said Dai Gui.

"Yeah. I know it looks odd, but I assure you we weren't doing anything perverted here. Not in _that_ way, anyway," added Xiao Fung briskly.

Bai Tsa rolled her eyes and sighed. Why did her brothers always take everything _that_ way? And why did they now suppose she had the same dirty mind as they did?

"My brothers, a pervert up there has been stalking me and is currently looking for me. I _know_ you are not like him." Much calmer now that she was safe, she slithered closer to them. "Anyway, out of curiosity, what were you doing here in the dark?"

"Good question!" interjected Xiao Fung.

"I was wondering about that myself," muttered Hsi Wu.

This time, Tso Lan and Dai Gui exchanged long-suffering glances.

"In the beginning, only we two were here," explained the moon demon, gesturing at his brother and himself. "Since we can see perfectly well in the dark, we did not bother to have any light in here."

"Oh..." said the others.

"Right, but what _were_ you doing?" insisted Bai Tsa.

"A plan," answered the moon demon vaguely.

"For a slaughter!" complemented Dai Gui.

Their sister smiled slyly. "Interesting."

oOo

The following morning promised a sunny day. Tso Lan, Dai Gui, Hsi Wu, Xiao Fung and Bai Tsa had woken up before everyone else in the palace and took the rote to the west that led to Egypt. The sky demon was in charge of flying ahead to locate Dai Gui's fiancée. It was really fortunate that the weather was so good, or else the search would have been more difficult.

After travelling for some hundreds of kilometres, he spotted a group of demons in the road coming in the opposite direction, which meant their destination was most likely China. Careful not to attract their attention, the winged demon flew closer and floated in circles above them. His guesses were confirmed when he noted the typically Egyptian clothing they were wearing.

Not wasting any more time, he flew up and back to his siblings as fast as possible; they should be waiting for him somewhere in the road. Fortunately, they were not too far away. Hsi Wu landed in front of them and caught his breath before telling them the exact location of Khed.

"So she was going to arrive at the palace today!" concluded Bai Tsa after some quick mental calculations.

"What about her escort?" Tso Lan asked his youngest sibling.

"There were four demons. They were large and brawny, much like Dai Gui himself," he answered.

"Right," said the moon demon, turning to the others and gesturing at them to gather together in a circle again. Xiao Fung was the one who was most excited about the plan; seemingly, he wasn't taking this too seriously. "Let us review the plan for the ambush. First, Hsi Wu will fly near them to distract them. Then, Bai tsa will use one of her aquatic attacks while I use my gravity powers so that we can get lower their defences. Next, Xiao Fung and Dai Gui will kill Khednebthirerekbetneret. Any questions?"

His siblings stared blankly at him. Bai Tsa blinked and slowly raised her hand to indicate she did have a question. Tso Lan nodded at her to speak.

"Um, Tso Lan? I think her name is Khednerekthiebeneret."

Xiao Fung raised an eyebrow at her. "Why, I thought it was Khedmerereb—"

"Enough!" Hsi Wu interrupted them, covering his ears in exasperation. If they were going to repeat this discussion, he would surely go insane. "Who cares about her ridiculously long name? She will be dead in a few minutes, anyway!"

The others agreed with him and let the subject drop.

"Any questions about the _plan_?" Tso Lan asked them, his rather annoyed look daring his brothers to change the subject again. Fortunately, they all just shook their heads. "Good. Now—"

"Wait, wait!" said Xiao Fung hurriedly. "Why do _I_ have to kill that Khed-something-or-other? That is not fair!" he whined.

Bai Tsa groaned in frustration. "Grow up, Xiao!"

"Shut up, I was not talking to you!" he snapped. "And if I have to kill someone important, I'd rather at least be able to pronounce the victim's name."

The moon demon suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "Fine, Xiao, you can kill her bodyguards after I attack them first."

"Yay! Thanks, Tso!" said the wind demon cheerfully, grinning his usual, annoying grin that seemed to remind Bai Tsa of something unpleasant, for she looked disgusted and suddenly very livid.

"Any more questions?" inquired the moon demon once again. His siblings shook their heads. He waited for a while to see if someone would change their mind like the last time, but they were all quiet. He nodded approvingly. "Let us go, then."

**To be continued...**

**

* * *

Author's note:** As astonishing as it may seem, I did not make up the name Khedebneithireretbeneret, nor did I bang my head on the keyboard. I actually found it in an Ancient Egyptian names list. There were many others that were quite long as well.

Countless thanks to my reviewers: **VampireNaomi**, **Hellblaze**, **Spleef**, and **Light Derived from Darkness**.


	17. Blackmail

– **CHAPTER 17 –  
**

_**Blackmail**_

Playing his part on the plan, Hsi Wu flew above the Egyptian demons in the hopes of attracting their attention while still maintaining a safe distance from them. After several minutes, however, none of them had showed any indication that they had seen the sky demon, who then began to seriously suspect they were either blind or just too stupid. Or perhaps they were merely underestimating him. Either way, Hsi Wu hated to be ignored by his inferiors.

In a change of tactics, he positioned himself between the group below and the sun so that he would project his shadow onto them, hoping not to be confused with a cloud. Apparently, it did work, as the four massive demons escorting Khed at last looked up. Hsi Wu smiled in victory and prepared for the next step.

However, he soon nearly fell to the ground, such was his astonishment when he saw them smiling and nodding in appreciation at him. They seemed to be thanking him for protecting them from the sun. Hissing furiously, the bat-demon decided to take more drastic measures in order to make those ambulant rocks attack him. He deliberately kept his annoyed expression when he quickly got down and landed right in front of the outlanders.

Now that he could draw near, Hsi Wu took the opportunity to have a batter look at his victims. The four bodyguards, who might as well be quadruplets, were all brawny like Dai Gui himself, but grey and rigid-looking, as if they really were living statues. They were only clad in white loincloths. Khed was carried on a sort of carriage by four other demons, who were quite smaller and somewhat looked like humans – half-humans, half-demons, Hsi Wu realised. Khed was a yellowish demon whose face resembled that of a lioness, and was wearing a long, white dress and a thick, golden necklace. She was not as large as her bodyguards, but a bit smaller than Dai Gui. In truth, the earth demon wasn't that unlucky; with a lot of goodwill and imagination, she kind of looked almost a little attractive. Her head hung backward and her eyes were closed, as if she were asleep.

"Good morning, China friend!" greeted of the bodyguards in a thick accent. "You can go back up there? The sun very hot."

Hsi Wu's eyes glowed angrily as he hissed, "No, you pathetic fools! Do you think I am your servant? I am here to pillage and annihilate you all!"

They looked at each other in confusion, shrugging and shaking their heads. Hsi Wu fought the urge to bang his head on a hard surface – preferably these demons' heads. Judging by the way one of them had spoken, Hsi Wu should have guessed they could not understand his language very well. The sky demon took a deep breath and tried again, speaking very slowly, choosing the simplest words, and gesturing, "I am your enemy. I am going to kill you." He pointed at himself, ran his index finger across his neck, and pointed at them, supposing anyone in the world would understand the I-will-slit-your-throat gesture.

Nevertheless, they were in doubt. The one who had spoken earlier – probably their leader, or at least the smartest of them – scratched his head and asked him, "That threat?"

"Yes, damn it!" exclaimed Hsi Wu, his patience wearing thin. Honestly, soon he would forget about the plan and kill these fools himself.

The good news was that their leader finally seemed to comprehend Hsi Wu's intentions, seeing as his eyes widened and he shouted something to his comrades. He probably explained that the winged demon was an enemy and ordered them to attack. Hsi Wu watched in satisfaction as the four monoliths charge at him. Now he could finally get on with the plan. He spread his huge wings and flew up before they could catch him up.

He started by flying only a few metres above the ground, just to provoke them. He didn't even bother to taunt them verbally, since they almost certainly would not be able to understand anything. Then, to aggravate them a bit more, Hsi Wu flew next to Khed. The sand demon did not move, did not even seem to be breathing. He idly wondered if she was really alive, until he realised the bodyguards had got indeed more infuriated and were coming to him. He backed away slowly, flying up each second.

Come now, if he had wanted to kill Khed, he could have already just done so, especially when her escort was this slow. Didn't they realise this was a trap? They had not showed to be exactly the most brilliant creatures in the world, but still... Well, at least it would make his task easier. He would leave to Dai Gui the pleasure of killing his undesired fiancée.

As expected, the Egyptians fell into the trap and ran after the sky demon in the naïve hope of catching him. It was actually a pity that they were not armed; maybe then they would be more interesting adversaries. Unlike Dai Gui and Tso Lan, he saw this all as a game, after all. Xiao Fung and Bai Tsa, too, would be disappointed with the lack of challenge these demons presented.

oOo

"Look, Hsi Wu managed to move her escort away!" said Xiao Fung, pointing at his youngest brother.

"It's about time," muttered Bai Tsa. The sky demon had taken so long to accomplish such a simple task that she had begun to think he had made friends with them. "What should I do now, Tso Lan?" she asked the moon demon. "Should I help Dai Gui attack She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named?"

"Dai Gui wants to kill her with his own hands," growled the earth demon, his eyes glowing.

"Do as you please. Xiao Fung and I shall fight the other four demons," replied Tso Lan softly. By his side, Xiao Fung was barely containing his excitement.

Bai Tsa quickly considered her options. She was really looking forward to kill someone in order to release the frustrations that Dhai Jiang had given her. If she chose to go with Dai Gui, she would probably be left aside to just watch as her brother killed his fiancée. However, if she chose to go with the other three brothers, there was a great chance she would be able to kill at least one of them without any help.

She just hoped they bled. Did stone demons actually have blood?

"I think I am –" She broke off when she glanced around and noticed she had been left alone, as everyone was already going into action. "Hey, brothers! Wait up! Leave one of them to me!" she shouted, hurrying after Tso Lan and Xiao Fung.

Meanwhile, the moon demon used his power of gravity to levitate his four opponents, who, thanks to Hsi Wu, were caught unawares. With a simple wave of his hand, he threw them into the ground, which shook heavily at the impact.

"That was amazing, Brother!" said Bai Tsa in a rare moment of admiration. However, they both frowned when the stone demons stood up as if nothing had happened.

"Now it's my turn!" said Xiao Fung, stepping forward. He took a very deep breath and blew. He must have been really excited about the fight, because his blow had the force of a typhoon; trees were pulled up and thrown into the air, and even Hsi Wu was having a hard time keeping himself in place.

Nevertheless, the stone demons stood still, completely immune to Xiao's power. The wind demon stopped to catch his breath and was genuinely surprised to see his blow had not had any effect on them.

"Impossible!" he gasped.

"Interesting," whispered Tso Lan in contrast. Bai Tsa gave him a sideways glance, an eyebrow raised. It was so like him to find interest in the oddest things.

While Xiao Fung tried to figure out what he had done wrong and Tso Lan found something interesting, Hsi Wu and Bai Tsa took the offensive. The mermaid prepared her water blast and aimed at the quartet. They were so motionless before, during and after the attack that she began to suspect they were just stones after all and the real demons had already fled long ago. Hsi Wu, for his part, came from above in an astounding speed and used his claws to slash one of the enemies in the chest.

"AAAAAAARGH!"

His three siblings winced. That must have hurt.

The bat-demon fell on knees and held his right hand, whose claws were now completely broken.

"Not fair! They are unbeatable!" complained Xiao Fung.

"And they don't even bother to retaliate," added Hsi Wu in a strangled voice, doing his best to glare daggers at the offending pillar towering over him. "They just stand there like a bunch of –" He kicked him in the leg and broke off mid-sentence to scream again, hopping on one foot and swearing colourfully. This time, the Head Rock did retaliate; he grabbed the little winged demon, crushed him, squeezed him, and threw him away as though he were an old, useless piece of parchment.

Hissing angrily, her eyes glowing spitefully, Bai Tsa prepared another attack, one strong enough to cause an inundation and carry away even ships and other heavy objects. But, much to her dismay, the enemies once more stood still and did _not_ counterattack. Breathing heavily, she groaned in frustration, "That was one of my most potent attacks!"

"What, did you really think you could defeat them with water? Even my claws did not work! At most, you would just give them a good bath," snapped Hsi Wu.

"'Soft water hits a hard stone so much that a hole is made,'" stated Tso Lan.

His three siblings gave him odd looks. That was all they needed; the one who was supposed to be the brightest of them had got mysteriously, suddenly insane and started to say nonsense.

oOo

While his siblings went to fight the bodyguards, Dai Gui slowly approached his fiancée. Ignoring the half-demons who were transporting her, he took his time to look at her for the first and last time. She didn't really looked as ugly and he had imagined...

NO! What was he thinking! Look at her, he told himself. She was a shallow, fussy, annoying female like all others. There were enough of them in the palace already, and he certainly did not need another one to follow him around!

Suddenly, as if sensing his presence, she opened her eyes. Dai Gui was slightly surprised to see they did not glow as much as his own, and there was something vaguely feline in them. They looked somewhat dark golden.

"Are we here?" she asked in a thick accent. Even her voice sounded like a purr. She leaned forward and glanced around. "I thought there would be a palace..."

Not managing to think of anything intelligent to say, Dai Gui merely roared and grabbed the sand demon to toss her onto the ground. His fiancée yelped and looked at him in confusion.

"I thought the welcome party was supposed to make you feel welcome," she murmured.

"This is not a welcome party; it is a farewell one!" he snarled and stomped on her as if killing an insect. The weight concentrated on his flat foot was such that the Egyptian's body split into two. She gave a strangled scream and her eyes rolled upward, her hands twitching before finally falling lifelessly. His lips curling up and baring his teeth, Dai Gui picked up her upper body and, with a roar, dropped her down the hill.

That was it. She was gone. He was free. He wouldn't have to marry anyone! Dai Gui chuckled smugly. Who would have thought it would be so easy? It was surprising that Bai Tsa had not yet been able to get rid of her babbling lizard of a fiancé.

However, his moment of triumph was violently interrupted when a huge rock hit him in the back and sent him rolling down the hill, as well.

oOo

"Tso Lan! You hit Dai Gui!" scolded the water demon after watching her older and supposedly wiser brother levitate one of the bodyguards and throw him towards the earth demon.

"It is not my fault that he got in the way," he replied serenely, using his powers to beat another opponent against the ground repeatedly.

"Oh, you are back to coherence, I see?" she said sarcastically, but he paid her no attention.

She hissed in frustration and turned back to the battle field, where the other two walking statues were liquidating Hsi Wu and Xiao Fung. Since the latter could not use his wind power, he was forced to use physical blows just like his little brother. However, one would think they should have already noticed that brute force was even less effective. Now even Bai Tsa was getting tired. Tso Lan, on the other hand, looked absolutely unworried about the whole situation. Bai Tsa even dared say he was actually having a good time.

Well, at least the bodyguards were retaliating now, which was less humiliating than if they had kept ignoring them.

A hoarse scream reached her ears, but before she could turn around to see what was going on, something very heavy hit her in the back and made her turn into water. When she gathered forces to take her true form back, she saw Dai Gui slowly approaching them, a grumpy expression on his face.

"Who hit Dai Gui?" he asked moodily.

"Tso Lan did," she answered sourly and got up. The demon who had fallen down the hill with Dai Gui had also returned; he was probably the one who had just knocked her over. While the earth demon glared at his older brother, silently promising himself he would have his revenge, Bai Tsa said, "This won't do. These demons are way too resistant! Can't you think of any way to defeat them at once, Tso Lan?"

"Of course," he answered. Upon seeing his sister's urging look, he added, "But it is much more amusing to see Hsi Wu and Xiao Fung being massacred."

"I did not know you had a sense of humour," she sneered.

"Neither did I. Astonishing, is it not? It must have been Xiao Fung's bad influence."

"Tso Lan!" shouted Bai Tsa and Dai Gui in unison and exasperation. The moon demon sighed and dropped his victim.

"All right, all right, I have a plan," he admitted.

"Finally!" exclaimed Bai Tsa.

"And what is it?" asked Dai Gui.

"Bai Tsa, I am going to open a hole in the ground. You just have to fill it with water, do you understand? Leave the rest to me."

The mermaid nodded. She and Dai Gui backed away as Tso Lan concentrated and increased the gravity on the spot before him so that the ground would give way and a huge hole was opened. Then, he nodded at his sister and she used her last forces to create more water.

She felt exhausted when she was done, but since Tso Lan had assured her that he would take care of the rest, the mermaid just sat down and watched the scene. The moon demon once again used his power of gravity to bring all the four stone demons closer. Xiao Fung and Hsi Wu collapsed, apparently semiconscious. Then, Tso Lan dropped his opponents on the newly formed lake.

"What is the point of it all, Tso Lan?" asked Dai Gui with some scepticism.

"Since they are so heavy, they cannot float or swim, so they will end up drowning."

"Ah, I see. Well thought," said Bai Tsa. Even so, she glared at him fiercely. "Why did you not think of that before? Or were you just having fun at our expenses all this time?"

"The latter."

By then, the two younger brothers had already recovered enough to stand up and join the others. Their faces were a bit swollen – although it was difficult to tell with Xiao – and they had several bruises everywhere.

"Are you two all right?" asked the female demon rather unsympathetically.

"We will live," answered the youngest bitterly. "So, did you kill Khed or not?"

"Yes, Dai Gui did. It was rather easy," said the earth demon.

"Let us go home, then," said Tso Lan, turning around and leading the way.

"Aww, I didn't even get to kill anyone..." complained Xiao Fung. Bai Tsa and Hsi Wu agreed sullenly.

"Brother Tso Lan is such a spoilsport," muttered Bai Tsa.

Dai Gui smirked.

oOo

The four brothers were possibly never happier to enter the palace. Bai Tsa, on the other hand, feared that Dhai Jiang would pop out of nowhere at any moment to torment her again.

"Where have you been?" asked a quiet voice. They turned to see Liu Yue.

"Oh, you know... around." Bai Tsa glanced at her two battered brothers. "Training."

"You must hurry! Lord Yan Kwang has called a family reunion at the dinner hall."

Family reunion? But it wasn't even time for any meal yet. That should mean that the demons' father intended to make an important announcement.

"I just hope it is not yet another fiancée," said Hsi Wu under his breath. Xiao Fung shuddered.

"And only the two of us are left," he observed. Bai Tsa could not help but smirk sadistically.

They stopped before the door. Liu Yue opened it and stepped back so that the others could enter first. Bai Tsa's gaze wandered around the room, noting all the members of the family were present. Mei Liang, Shendu, Dhai Jiang, Lehn Wuong, Yang Kwang, Khed, Tchang Zu, Shii Nah...

Wait a minute! _Khed_?

"Ah, you are here. Come in and sit, my children," said Yan Kwang.

Four pairs of eyes widened till they were the size of gongs. Tso Lan looked unimpressed, though, and just bowed slightly to his father before taking his place next to Shii Nah, followed by Liu Yue. Meanwhile, Dai Gui seemed to be losing his colour and about to faint.

After a good while blinking and gaping, Bai Tsa, Hsi Wu and Xiao Fung slowly joined the others at the table. The mermaid shuddered in repulsion when seeing her fiancé's frighteningly broad smile. Dai Gui, still horrified, sat down opposite to Khed.

Yan Kwang introduced all the family and made official the engagement between Dai Gui and the Egyptian demon, then they began to eat the welcome banquet. Those who had tried to kill Khed, with the exception of Tso Lan, glanced at each other nervously. First of all, how on Earth could she still be alive? All the way home, Dai Gui had gloated about how he had split her in a half, thrown her down a hill and then landed on her after being hit by a stone demon! Secondly, why wasn't their father questioning them about it? Surely she had told him there had been an attempt on her life? Yet, Yan looked so calm...

"Hmm, the food is delicious. I have always heard that Chinese cookery was marvellous, but I never thought it was this good," she commented, although her difficult to hold the chopsticks properly was rather evident. In fact, Bai Tsa hadn't seen her eating anything yet, because the food would always drop before Khed could bite it.

The water demon exchanged glances with Xiao Fung, who shrugged, and Hsi Wu, who looked suspicious of something. So, the sand demon came back from the dead, somehow arrived at the palace _before_ the five siblings, did not inform on them, and gave gratuitous, false praise? Something was very, very wrong here. Perhaps she was just an impostor intending to murder the lord of the demons and thus take his place and fortune. Bai Tsa had already lost count of how many times that had occurred. Twenty, thirty? Of course, all earlier attempts had failed, but there was a first time for everything, right?

Hsi Wu cleared his throat and, trying to sound casual, asked, "So, Khed, did you come here alone, all the way from Egypt?"

Bai Tsa choked on the rice wine she had been drinking. What was her brother thinking, asking such a straightforward question? Khed, for her part, accidentally dropped a piece of tarnished chicken and smiled sweetly at the winged demon. A bit too sweetly for Bai Tsa's and Hsi Wu's tastes.

"No, I came with an escort," she answered politely.

"Really? I did not see anyone with you when you arrived," pointed out Shendu, narrowing his eyes.

"They left when we were near enough the palace. When we were sure I was not in danger anymore," she purred.

Bai Tsa snorted, "That doesn't seem very –" She broke off with a gasp when she felt a cold, scaly hand squeezing the part of her tail that would be the equivalent to a thigh in someone with legs. She glared at Dhai Jiang, who winked at her.

"Is something wrong, Bai Tsa?" asked her father.

Her face burning, the water demon shook her head. She also had pride and could get her revenge by herself; she would not let him ruin her dignity in public!

Oblivious to his daughter's consternation, Yan Kwang nodded and stood up.

"Well, I have some important matters to take care of right now. You youngsters stay here and enjoy the tea."

"I should leave, as well. I am going to Nepal to meet some friends," said Lehn Wuong.

"Ah, our monk fellows, right, Father?" asked Dhai Jiang. Bai Tsa saw her fiancé's hand twitching excitedly under the table, as if barely able to refrain from touching her again.

As soon as the oldest demons left the room and the mortal servants brought tea to the others, Khed grabbed her bowl still full of food and literally threw all of its content into her wide-open mouth. The others stared in horror at her lack of manners. She swallowed it all at once without even chewing!

"Gross..." hissed Bai Tsa under her breath, referring both to the sand demon and to Dhai Jiang.

"Are you really Khed?" asked Hsi Wu in disbelief.

The Egyptian tried to talk with her mouth full. Since no one was able to understand her, she swallowed and looked slyly at the sky demon.

"Please, my name is Khedebneithireretbeneret. But yes, that would be really me. The one you and your siblings attempted to assassinate halfway here."

The demons who weren't involved looked mildly surprised at the revelation.

"Dai Gui does not understand... How did you survive?" the earth demon wanted to know.

Khed burst into laughter, which sounded more like a roar, before answering, "Due to my element, I can turn into sand and then back to normal at will. You need more than a few hits to kill me."

"In other words, it is an ability similar to that of Bai Tsa's," concluded Tso Lan, eyeing her as though examining an interesting bug specimen.

"Actually, they are very alike, aren't they?" remarked Dhai Jiang. His fiancée felt genuinely insulted and guessed the lizard-demon's eyesight had been badly damaged at some point in time without her knowledge. Bai Tsa and She-Who-Could-Not-Be-Named had absolutely nothing in common! "If I might say so, you are very pretty, my lady," he added. Bai Tsa didn't know why, but this comment was even worse than the previous one. For some reason, and for the first time in her life, her annoyance was directed not to her fiancé, but to the sand demon. She felt a twinge of... what? Something like jealousy?

Except that getting jealous because her fiancé had paid another female a compliment was simply the most preposterous thing in the world. No, she was just upset because Khed was being treated like a princess, even when it was obvious that she was but a sham. The water demon did notice how her demeanour had changed at the instant Yan Kwang had left.

Yes, that was it. She wasn't jealous at all.

"Why, thank you, Dhai Jiang," replied Khed during Bai Tsa's brooding.

"Wait a minute," said Hsi Wu. "If you really are Khed and recognise us as your assailants, why didn't you tell our father about what happened?" he asked. Xiao Fung elbowed him so that he would keep quiet, afraid that his youngest brother would give her ideas.

Bai Tsa sighed. _Curious as usual, aren't you, Hsi Wu?_

"Please, call me Khedebneithireretbeneret. And I didn't tell him anything because I can still use it to my advantage." She drank up her tea in one gulp.

"What do you mean?" asked Tso Lan warily.

"Why, I'm talking about blackmail, of course. If your father finds out what you attempted to do, he will be furious, and if you try to harm me now, he will find out and be furious, anyway. So, why not use it to my advantage? I could make you my personal slaves in return of my silence." She gave another strange, evil laugh.

"You are sick," hissed Bai Tsa, grimacing.

"You know, I am beginning to like this Khed demon," remarked Shendu, smirking at his sister.

"Khedebneithireretbeneret, if you would please," repeated the sand demon.

"Dai Gui would rather die than be a servant to a female!" protested her fiancé.

"Would you really? You know, I think I could still catch up to your father and tell him a very interesting story about five siblings who tried to murder a delicate and sweet demon princess from Egypt," she purred.

"Dai Gui, do calm down, all right?" said Hsi Wu, gesturing at his brother to sit down again.

"You are digging your own grave, Khed," hissed Bai Tsa.

"Khedebneithireretbeneret," corrected the other yet again.

Dai Gui squeezed his cup tightly until it broke into pieces.

"It is really a brilliant scheme. Who would have thought you are so clever?" said Dhai Jiang, impressed.

Bai Tsa saw red, and before she realised, she was punching the swamp demon squarely in the face, yelling, "You idiot!" and then storming out of the room.

"Children..." growled Tchang Zu. Khed and Shendu chuckled in delight at the water demon's irritation.

oOo

"What should Dai Gui do now, Sister?" asked the earth demon. If the mermaid hadn't known better, she would have thought he was whining. "Dai Gui does not want to be anyone's slave, especially not a female's!"

She let out an exasperated sigh and continued trying to play her flute. Other than painting, music always helped her relax. Unfortunately, it had been a good while since she had last played anything, and now she seemed to have lost her touch, which just upset her even more.

"Will you calm down? We will find a way out of this situation. I am sure one of us will get to think of a way to eliminate her and make it look like an accident sooner or later."

"Any ideas?"

"Oh, I am sorry, but I need my own ideas to kill _my_ fiancé. Why don't you speak to Tso Lan? He is clever and has nothing to do other than sitting in a dark room all day."

"His last plan failed miserably," argued Dai Gui.

"Yes, well, he didn't know that She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named could turn into sand in order to escape lethal attacks. But now he should be able to come up with something. And if his plan does fail again, talk to Mei Liang. It would seem she has become an expert at plotting murders."

"Dai Gui does not think that is such a good idea. He has the feeling that Shendu and Mei Liang will make friends with her very soon."

"Hmm, I admit you have a point. Very suspicious, isn't it? I knew we could not trust those dragons."

The door was suddenly thrown open and the two demons turned around in alertness, half-expecting it to be Khed coming to get her revenge. But no, it was much worse. Bai Tsa shuddered and dropped her flute, causing it to break. Her eyes widened and glowed.

"Y-you!"

Standing by the door, the broadest smile ever on his face, his arms stretched out, and emitting so much happiness that it was nearly possible to physically feel it was the one and only Dhai Jiang.

"My submarine sapphire!" he uttered. Bai Tsa's right eye twitched convulsively. "How could I be so blind, so ignorant, so oblivious to my loved one's precious feelings?" Dai Gui grimaced, looking ill. "If only I had realised that my innocent words to the newcomer would hurt you so! I want you to know that no one shall ever take your place in my heart, my love! You shall always own and rule this reptilian heart of mine, so there is no need to be jealous!"

"WHAT!" exploded Bai Tsa, her face flushing.

"Please, forgive me! Come here, I will make up for it!" He threw himself towards her. Bai Tsa yelped and tried to get out of his way.

"D-don't get near me, you deranged pervert! D-Dai Gui, don't just stand there, help me!"

"Um, Dai Gui will speak to Tso Lan, as you suggested," murmured the earth demon, discreetly stepping aside until reaching the door as if unwilling to interrupt a romantic scene.

"Dai Gui, my brother! He-Help meeee!" Her ear-piercing scream was cut off by the much wet kiss the lizard-demon gave her.

oOo

"Huh?" Po Kong looked up, where the sky was darkening with the beginning of the sunset.

"Is something wrong, Po-chan?" Yamaoh asked her. They were sitting side by side on the backyard of his property, and parts of human corpses and bones were scattered everywhere around them.

"Ah! No, it's just that... I thought I heard someone. It sounded like my younger sister's voice. You know, Bai Tsa." She grabbed a man's upper body and bit his left arm off. "But that would be impossible, because she is very far away from here."

"Do you miss your homeland?"

She snorted, "_This_ is my homeland."

"What about your family?"

She huffed and went back to staring at the sunset. "I don't know... Most of them always got on my nerves, but I think Bai Tsa wasn't that bad, after all. Neither were Tso Lan or Hsi Wu, I guess."

Yamaoh lay on his back and leaned his head on his hands. "What is China like?"

"Oh, it is a beautiful place. Not as much as Japan, though."

"I would like to go there someday."

That made Po Kong snort again as she ate another piece of flesh. "If you ever do, just make sure you will keep away from the palace where my family lives and everything will be fine."

He smirked. "Actually, I was thinking of going there to meet them."

The mountain demon looked at him in disgust. No one in their right mind could honestly want to meet those nutcases. Why couldn't she and Yamaoh just continue living in Japan?

"What is that?" asked Yamaoh suddenly, pointing up. Po Kong looked up and, to her surprise, saw a huge bird resembling a bat drop something that it had been carrying in its beak. A sealed roll of parchment fell before her. "A letter?"

Po Kong nodded slowly. "So it seems," she murmured, opening it. It was from Hsi Wu.

_Dear Sister Po,_

_Liu Yue told me you had asked her to write you letters during your stay in Japan. Since she's too lazy and I have two important things to tell you, I have decided to write you a letter in her place._

_To begin with, everyone is all right, unfortunately. Tchang Zu and Shii Nah still train non-stop everyday and refuse to get involved with the younger ones' affairs. Tso Lan spends the entire day either meditating or studying, while Liu Yue goes to see her mortal lover. Bai Tsa is still tormented by Dhai Jiang and trying to escape or kill him. And Xiao Fung is just as lazy and unworried as ever._

_However, Shendu and Mei Liang have been acting very suspiciously. Bai Tsa, Tso Lan and I have strong reasons to believe that they are up to something. We are not yet sure what, but I can tell it is very serious. Even Dai Gui is beginning to suspect them, but Father wouldn't listen to us, Tchang Zu doesn't want to get involved, and Xiao Fung... well, no comments. I would like you to come and help us. I am afraid someone in the family is in grave danger._

_Another thing I should mention is that a new demon has arrived; Dai Gui's fiancée, from Egypt. I don't even dare try to spell her name, but I myself call her Khed. She is very suspicious, as well. Tso Lan, Dai Gui, Bai Tsa, Xiao Fung and I tried to kill her before she got to the palace, but she survived somehow and now wants to blackmail us. If Father finds out about what we tried to do, he will surely have our heads! And the worse part is that Shendu and Mei Liang seem ready to join forces with her. At the moment, we are thinking of ways to get rid of her and make it look like an accident. But, as you must know from Bai Tsa's experiences, that is not as easy as it seems. Couldn't you come back and help us?_

_Your brother,_

_Hsi Wu_

Po Kong frowned. It seemed many things had happened since she had come to Japan. In all honesty, she wanted to follow Tchang Zu's example and not get involved in the messes the younger ones created. She was minding her own business, having a good time in Japan, enjoying Yamaoh's company, and now her siblings wanted her to return?

On the other hand, those two dragons' behaviour was worrisome. If even Bai Tsa, Hsi Wu, and Tso Lan, who were fairly clever, agreed that there was something very wrong going on, she should probably return as soon as possible. Sighing in resignation, she told Yamaoh so.

"Family matters?" he asked. She nodded. The hill demon watched her for a moment, in silence, then smirked and said, "I am coming with you, then."

**To be continued...**

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**Author's note:** I thank **VampireNaomi**, **Dragolover1**, **Senda san**, **Ispychan**, and **Bai Tsa** for reviewing. To be honest, your reviews encouraged me to translate this chapter as fast as possible, otherwise I would have posted it only next week.


	18. Po Kong's Return

– **CHAPTER 18 –**

_**Po Kong's Return**_

Although Po Kong was still upset about having to return from Japan earlier than she had planned, it was good to be back to China. Of course, it could never be compared to Japan, but, somehow, it didn't seem as bad as before. Not when she had such a fun companion. The trip back had been quite pleasant with Yamaoh by her side, and at least she would soon have the chance to announce their engagement to the rest of her family.

Yamaoh watched his surroundings with great interest. Po Kong could not fathom why, for there was nothing special about this region in particular – just a few trees, a stream, some mountains far away, and a village.

Though, if she weren't in such a hurry, she wouldn't have minded letting him admire the scenery.

"I am starving," she remarked. "Couldn't we hurry up a little? Come on, I'll show you around later."

Yamaoh gave her a smile. "Yes, I am hungry, as well. Oh, I know! How about we race to your palace?"

"But if you get ahead of me, how will you know where to go?"

He shrugged. "You said we just had to go straight ahead."

She sighed, knowing it was true.

"Besides," he continued, now with a sly smirk, "do you really have such a low self-confidence that you believe you are going to lose?"

"No way," she snorted.

"Want to bet?"

Before she could reply, he broke into a run towards where she had indicated the palace was located. She shouted out a protest and ran after him. Both were aware that this was ridiculously childish, but they were too hungry to care about such minor details.

oOo

"Ahh, life is good," purred Khed, leaning back on a heap of soft cushions and closing her eyes in contentment. She was having a wonderful and relaxing day.

The other four occupants of the room, however, did not share her joy, precisely because they were reluctant parts of it. Hsi Wu was crouching before her feet, filing her thick, black claws, with an expression of deep contempt and disgust on his face. Next to them, Bai Tsa's expression mirrored that of her youngest brother while she painted the claws on the sand demon's right hand in blood-red. Xiao Fung was behind Khed, massaging her shoulders and looking extremely bored. Tso Lan stood just a little away from the group, fanning the sand demon (in reality, it wasn't that warm there, but Khed hadn't been able to think of anything else for Tso Lan to do), and although he appeared to be indifferent as usual, his furrowed brow, glowing eyes, and tense posture betrayed his aggravation.

The door burst open and Khed opened her eyes to see her new fiancé, Dai Gui, come in bearing a bowl full of grapes. He stood before her and offered her the bowl, growling, "Here it is."

"Here it is, _what_?" she said.

Dai Gui grunted and amended, "Here it is, _Mistress_."

She accepted the bowl graciously and gave her fiancé a sweet smile. "Purrrfect. Now, bring me some dates."

Dai Gui began to growl again and his eyes glowed. Khed's smile turned into a malicious smirk and she waved her finger in the earth demon's face. "Ah-ah-ah! You do not want your father to know you tried to assassinate an Egyptian princess, do you?"

Bai Tsa rolled her eyes in exasperation. What she wouldn't do to leave this room, even if only for a couple of minutes... And here was her brother, wasting his precious chance.

"Just go already, Dai Gui," she hissed.

Dai Gui sighed and did as he was told. Pleased, Khed gestured at Tso Lan. "Enough with that fanning; I'm even beginning to feel cold. Come feed me the grapes."

The moon demon arched an eyebrow. "Would it not be more appropriate if you had your fiancé do that instead?"

"Hmm, I suppose," she said, running a finger over her chin as if contemplating the idea. "But you know what?" She turned to look at him and leered. "You are much cuter than him."

Neither Bai Tsa nor Hsi Wu could hold back a smirk, amused by Tso Lan's obvious dismay at being called "cute". Xiao Fung's shoulders shook as he struggled to hold back his laughter.

"How flattering," murmured Tso Lan in a deadpan voice.

"Stop complaining, Brother. It could be worse," said Hsi Wu. "I mean, look at me! How come _I've _got the worst task, anyway?"

At that moment, the door opened again to admit not Dai Gui, to everyone's mild surprise, but Tchang Zu. The thunder demon stopped for a moment upon taking notice of his siblings' activities and watched them for a while, until finally exploding: "What on Earth do you think you are doing? Is this some kind of joke?"

"No, dear brother, this is some kind of blackmail," replied Bai Tsa dryly.

Tchang Zu was in silence for the briefest of moments while he recalled the exchange he had witnessed the previous day. Then, he was thundering again: "You're actually going to let her enslave you like that? You are a disgrace, a dishonour to our family, a shame to all demons! If there is anyone you should be serving, that would be me!"

"Why don't you get rid of her, then, so you can reclaim your rights as the tyrant of the family?" asked Hsi Wu. It wouldn't be so bad for the siblings if that actually happened, for they would get rid of Khed as well as Tchang Zu, who would certainly be punished for Khed's assassination.

Before Tchang Zu could say anything else, the entire palace shook. Having long since got accustomed to such occurrences, the siblings merely sighed in a long-suffering manner, whereas Khed looked mildly alarmed.

Tchang Zu shouted so loudly that he could probably be heard all over China, "Dai Gui! Stop that at once! You know you cannot dig tunnels near the palace!"

The door opened once again and Dai Gui came in with another bowl. "But Dai Gui is not doing anything!" he shouted back nearly as loudly, but just as annoyed.

"Then what –"

"Earthquake!" deduced Bai Tsa, covering her head when pieces of the ceiling began to fall.

Hsi Wu realised this earthquake was quite stronger than any other he had gone through and decided to fly outside, where it would be safer. However, as soon as he got to the window, he sighted something in the far horizon, grinned, and let out a chuckle.

"What is so funny, Hsi Wu?" Bai Tsa wanted to know.

The sky demon turned to her and announced, with an air of triumph, "The reinforcements are here."

A booming voice, almost as strong as the tremors, followed Hsi Wu's statement.

"I win! I win!" it shouted victoriously.

oOo

Yamaoh bent over and leant on his own knees as he tried to catch his breath. Then, he looked up and smiled sarcastically. "Do not be so juvenile," he said.

Po Kong chuckled. "Says the one who suggested this childish game in the first place. Do not be a sore loser, Yamaoh."

"Po Kong!" shouted a distant voice. They looked up to see a group of demons clustered together at one of the many windows of the palace. Three of them – namely Hsi Wu, Xiao Fung, and Bai Tsa – waved at the mountain demon. Po Kong smirked and gave them a small wave in return.

"Your brothers and sisters, I assume?" said Yamaoh.

Po Kong nodded and headed to the main entrance of the palace, gesturing at him to follow her. "Come on in. The sooner we get in there, the sooner we will get to eat something."

By the time they got in, her family was already there, waiting for the two demons. Yamaoh eyed every one of them curiously, but kept quiet and patiently watched as they greeted Po Kong first.

"You are back earlier," commented Tchang Zu, surprise evident in his voice. "We did not expect you to return this soon."

"You should have told us you were coming," said Tso Lan. "We would have prepared a proper welcome feast."

Po Kong stared at them in surprise before directing her gaze towards Hsi Wu and raising a questioning eyebrow. "You didn't tell them I was coming?"

"What, me?" he asked in puzzlement. "And how on Earth was I supposed to know you were coming?"

Po Kong opened her mouth to say, _You're the one who told me to come, you dumb twit!_ However, she froze before the words could leave her mouth. Although Po Kong would never admit it out loud, Hsi Wu wasn't that stupid. Also, he was giving her what appeared to be a meaningful look. Po Kong thought fast.

"Er..."

Well, at least she tried to.

"Um..."

The other siblings were staring at her, perhaps a trifle warily.

"Well..."

"Yes?" prompted Tchang Zu.

"You see..." She hesitated a moment longer before finally explaining, "I sent a bird with a message saying I was coming back –"

"It must have got lost!" said Hsi Wu, pouncing on her words. "Or killed! Or intercepted! You know how it is," he told his siblings casually.

Only Xiao Fung and Dhai Jiang nodded, whereas the rest of the demons continued to grow suspicious.

"You sent your message to _Hsi Wu_?" asked Tchang Zu in disbelief. "Why him?"

"Err..." said Po Kong helplessly.

Fortunately, Hsi Wu came for the rescue once again. "Because I'm always flying around and bound to find the messages that are sent to the palace," he replied, flailing about in what, to everyone else, probably looked like exasperated, theatrical gestures, but, to Po Kong, looked like he was physically grasping at metaphorical straws in desperation. "And she knew I'd probably see it first, because I told her before she left that I'd be waiting for any messages from her." He turned to her, grinning. "Isn't that right, Sister Po?"

The mountain demon was silent for a couple of seconds before finally blurting out, "Right! Of course. Yes. What he said. That's what happened. Yes."

"All right..." murmured Tchang Zu, with just the barest hint of suspicion.

"Who's that, Sister Po?" asked Xiao Fung, pointing at Yamaoh, thankfully changing the subject.

"Oh! This is Okasaka Yamaoh, the hill demon. It was his family that hosted me in Japan," she said, gesturing at him to come closer.

Yamaoh stepped forwards and bowed. "It is an honour to meet you all."

"Yamaoh, this is Tchang Zu, the thunder demon and my eldest brother," began Po Kong, indicating Tchang Zu, who bowed back. She proceeded to introduce the rest of the family, and each of them bowed to the Japanese demon when she spoke their names. "Tso Lan, the moon demon and my second eldest brother, and his fiancée, Liu Yue. Bai Tsa, the water demon and my younger sister, and her, er, fiancé, Dhai Jiang. My three younger brothers, Xiao Fung, the wind demon, Dai Gui, the earth demon, and Hsi Wu, the sky demon." She paused when she found herself face-to-face with a feline demon. "And you must be Khed, Dai Gui's fiancée, am I right?"

The feline demon folded her arms huffily and stuck her nose in the air. "That's Khedebneithireretbeneret to you."

Po Kong blinked. "All that... is your name, is it?" _You poor thing_, she thought.

"Yes," said the feline demon proudly. "Khedebneithireretbeneret, the sand demon, princess of Egypt."

"Nice," said Po Kong, unimpressed, "Po Kong, the mountain demon, princess of China." She bowed mockingly, smirking. Khed narrowed her eyes and wrinkled her nose, but offered no further comment. Leaving her be for the moment, Po Kong took a quick glance around. "Our father, Shendu, Mei Liang, Mr. Wuong, and Shii Nah seem to be absent."

"Father is 'taking care of important matters', Shii Nah is taking a stroll in the town, and Wuong went to Nepal," said Tchang. "And I have no idea where the dragons are."

"No one knows," added Bai Tsa. "They have been doing this for a while now. They leave without warning and come back late in the night."

Po Kong gave her an odd look. "Are you sure they're not just... you know."

"What?"

"Well, they _are_ engaged, after all, and we all know how impatient those two are. They've probably got tired of waiting for the marriage."

"Hm. Yes, that must be it."

Despite her words, Bai Tsa looked doubtful. Po Kong was about to ask what she had in mind, but then suddenly found herself as the target of not only one, but three pairs of Meaningful Looks. Bai Tsa, Hsi Wu, and Tso Lan were as close to screaming, "Later, Po Kong! Later!" without actually making any sound or opening their mouths as it was possible. How odd.

Good grief, she was too hungry to deal with this.

"You know, I could really do with that welcome feast right about now."

oOo

"So, let me see if I understand," said Po Kong, her voice muffled as she munched some pastries. The feast had been over only half an hour ago, but it was Po Kong's belief that no time was the wrong time for a quick snack. "You tried to kill that Khed demon, and now she's blackmailing you?"

"That's the gist of it, yes," said Hsi Wu sullenly.

Po Kong sighed. "I'm so disappointed in all of you, especially you, Tso Lan. You are supposed to be the wisest in the family. You should have known better."

They all looked down gloomily. Po Kong watched them, disapproval clear in her glowing eyes.

"I mean," she continued, "you didn't even try to make it look like an accident. You just went and attacked heads on. No subtlety at all. And you still had the nerve to criticise me when I used to do that myself. Hypocrites."

"We were desperate to prevent her from getting to the palace," explained Dai Gui.

"And we were certain that no one would ever find out, because there would be no survivors or witnesses," added Bai Tsa.

"And all would have gone right, if only _Khed_ didn't have regenerative powers," said Hsi Wu, spitting the sand demon's name.

"Well, I'm sorry, but you should have seen it coming. Going about murdering royalty is risky enough, but you didn't even know what you were dealing with. 'Know thy enemy,' rings any bells to you?"

"But aren't you going to help us, Sister Po?"

"You brought that on yourselves, so I don't see why I should get involved."

"But didn't you come all the way from Japan just to help us?"

"Would you really let her treat your own family as servants?" whined Xiao Fung.

"We can't rely on anyone else to help us," added Dai Gui.

Po Kong ignored them and stuffed her mouth with more pastries.

"Oh, come now, Sister," said Bai Tsa, slithering closer to the mountain demon. "We know you want to get rid of her as much as we do. She _is_ really unpleasant, isn't she?"

"I do admit that she's not the most amicable demon in the world," conceded Po Kong. "But then again, amicability isn't exactly a demonic trait, and she could have been a lot nastier. All things considered, I think she was comparatively civil, even."

"Poor naïve Po Kong," sighed Bai Tsa. When her elder sister eyed her inquisitively, the water demon elaborated, "Of course she was comparatively civil to you. She's a sneaky backstabber. She saw how strong and dangerous you were and knew she should avoid being in your bad books. She's the kind of creature who would be civil to potentially dangerous enemies and then insult them behind their backs." She patted Po Kong's arm sympathetically. "I heard what she said about you, though."

"What? What did she say about me?" asked Po Kong, curious despite herself.

Bai Tsa shifted awkwardly and leant closer, her voice dropping to a whisper, "She called you fat."

Po Kong's eyebrows shot up. "She did not."

"She did, too," said Bai Tsa, nodding firmly, a grim expression on her face. "'A big, fat pig,' were her exact words."

"I heard it, too," said Hsi Wu softly, sounding almost apologetic.

Xiao Fung and Dai Gui frowned in puzzlement. The former looked at the latter, who shrugged and shook his head.

"How come we didn't hear that?" asked Xiao Fung. "We were sitting closer to her than Hsi Wu..."

"I've got a very good hearing, as you well know," snapped Hsi Wu. "She wasn't speaking loudly, either."

"She said the same thing about Yamaoh at end of the feast," murmured Tso Lan, almost to himself. "She probably thought no one was within earshot; she did not see me there."

Po Kong's eyes glowed as she fumed silently.

"I..." she said after a moment, hesitantly. She looked down at the now empty tray of pastries, looking very upset. She stood up suddenly and stomped towards the door.

Alarmed, the others straightened up.

"Wait! Don't go after her just yet!" shouted Bai Tsa. Po Kong looked over her shoulder, frowning in confusion.

"I'm not. I'm going to get more pastries."

After Po Kong's heavy steps had finally faded, Xiao Fung turned to Bai Tsa.

"Khed didn't really say that, did she?" he asked in suspicion.

Bai Tsa shrugged. "Not as such, no. But I'm sure she must have _thought_ it at some point, and it's the thought that counts, right?"

oOo

After Bai Tsa and Hsi Wu successfully got Xiao Fung and Dai Gui to leave and Po Kong returned with another tray of snacks, they made sure the door was locked and that no one would be eavesdropping from the window. Po Kong seemed confused about such secrecy, but made no comment.

Lowering her voice again, Bai Tsa spoke. "There is one more thing that we are concerned about, Po Kong."

"It's about Shendu and Mei Liang," said Hsi Wu darkly. "They're up to something."

"You did mention that in your letter," said Po Kong. "It's the main reason why I decided to come back. You said someone was in danger?"

"We are not sure about that," said Tso Lan. "However, their behaviour is very suspicious."

"They're always together, away from the family," continued Bai Tsa. "We've seen them trying to catch a rabbit –"

"– an extraordinarily fast rabbit, mind –" supplied Hsi Wu.

"– and they may or may not have brought home a magical tiger that split me into two with opposing personalities –"

"– and Shendu has been reading books about the Chinese zodiac as if his life depended on it. He also had one about transfer spells."

"What's worse, they get along with She-Whose-Name-Is-Ridiculously-Long," muttered Bai Tsa. "I bet they're allies. And if they aren't, they will be. It would be so like them."

Po Kong shifted uneasily, her face unusually anxious. "You don't think they're planning to kill someone in the family... do you?"

"We don't know. But whatever it is they are planning, it can't be good," said Bai Tsa.

Hsi Wu, who was perched on the windowsill and had been glancing outside every so often, seemed to have seen something interesting. The others fell silent, lest it was a possible eavesdropper. However, the sky demon looked rather pleased.

"Father is back!"

oOo

As per the tradition, the family gathered in the dinner room, only this time it wasn't Yan Kwang who was introducing the newly-arrived to the family, but rather the other way round. Yamaoh was exceedingly polite and Yan Kwang almost immediately took a liking to him. The lord of the demons seemed to be in an excellent mood, and the atmosphere was light like it hadn't been in centuries, despite Khed's presence and Dhai Jiang's leering at Bai Tsa. Half of them thought it was due to the two dragons' absence, although that – as well as Shii Nah's absence – had been the only thing that upset Yan Kwang. All members of the family should be present in these meetings, he felt. When they returned, he would have a serious Word with them.

All of which made Bai Tsa so gleeful that she barely got annoyed with Dhai Jiang.

Eventually, Yamaoh and Po Kong exchanged slightly nervous smiles and rose from their seats.

"Lord Yan Kwang," began Yamaoh, "I would like to ask for your permission to have your daughter's hand in marriage."

Yan Kwang did not seem surprised at all by his request. Quite the contrary, in fact; he looked like he had been expecting this all along. His lips twitched upwards slightly in a quasi-smile.

"I see. And does my daughter wish to marry you?" he asked, a solemn expression on his face. It was clear that, although he had addressed Yamaoh, the question was directed at Po Kong. The mountain demon nodded and bowed her head, a small smile on her lips.

"Yes, I do, my father," she said.

"Then you have my wholehearted approval and my blessing," said Yan Kwang, now smiling openly.

"He had this all planned out," whispered Hsi Wu to Xiao Fung while the new couple thanked Yan Kwang. "That's why he let her go to Japan. He had arranged for Yamaoh's family to host her."

"She still got to make a choice, somewhat," replied the wind demon forlornly.

"Indeed," said Bai Tsa, having overheard their conversation. She was leaning over the table, shoulders sagging, looking even gloomier than Xiao Fung. "Father knew Po Kong would like this demon, so he arranged for them to meet and spend time together. And she could have refused him, if she wanted. She had a choice, and now she is going to marry someone she actually likes. I am so jealous."

Her good mood gone, she dropped her head onto her folded arms and flinched when a pair of scaly, green hands snaked around her shoulders.

"You are so tense, my siren in distress," said Dhai Jiang, beaming. "Would you like me to give you a massage?"

There let out a muffled noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob.

oOo

It was nearly midnight and the three missing demons still had not returned. No one was worried, for even such young demons could certainly take care of themselves. Yan Kwang figured they were out in the town amusing themselves. He, too, suspected the two dragons were doing things best left for after the marriage, which infuriated him. Such noble creatures should have been above that. He was also disappointed in Shii Nah. She might be a demon and a warrior, but he still thought it was improper of a female to be out at such late hours by herself.

For a while, they speculated on whether or not someone should go and look for them, but then decided that it was not worth the effort. They would be back, anyway, eventually.

Or so they thought.

The following morning, however, they were still missing. None of the servants had seen them since the previous day, and there was no sign that any of the three demons had even been around the palace recently. Some members of the family began to worry that something bad had happened to them, while others were convinced that they must have drunk themselves into a stupor, or something to that effect, and spent the night in the town.

Before they could reach a consensus, Shii Nah calmly walked in and stared at them.

They stopped arguing and stared back.

All was silent for a moment.

She looked normal and healthy, if a bit dazed. Not hungover, all her limbs were there, intact, as were her clothes. However, those who were closer to her and had a good sense of smell did notice she reeked of demon blood.

"Where have you been?" Yan Kwang demanded to know. "What did you do?"

She blinked and frowned slightly. "I'm... not entirely sure. I can't quite remember. But..."

The other demons waited, confused. Her gaze was vague, a little unfocused, and she seemed to be trying to remember something important.

"I think Shendu and Mei Liang may be in danger."

* * *

_**To be continued...**_


End file.
